The Kids Are Alright
by dietcocacola101
Summary: Join Albus Potter, Rose Weasley, Scorpius Malfoy, and a few friends they pick up along the way, on their seven yearlong journey at Hogwarts. Teenagers flirt, fight, and fall in love and you get a front row seat for all of it. Scorpius/Rose, Albus/OC
1. Chapter 1

YEAR ONE

_Albus_

Albus Potter's first day at Hogwarts was a disaster. And it wasn't just because he was Sorted into Slytherin, or because he had failed to make a single friend (although those two things alone are enough to make a guy feel down in the dumps). His first day was awful because of a certain Elizabeth Nicole Silver, Lizzie for short. And that was exactly how she introduced herself on the Hogwats Express: "My name is Elizabeth Nicole Silver, but you can call me Lizzie for short."

But did Lizzie stop at that one sentence? Oh no, of course not. She plunked herslf in between Albus and Rose in their compartment and chattered away. She talked...and talked...and _talked._ The girl just wouldn't stop. At one point, Albus was afraid she was going to choke on her food. He was actually afraid for her life...at first. But the longer Albus was in her presence, the worse things got. Soon, Lizzie was making googly eyes at him and batting her eyelashes and laughing at everything he said - and honestly, he wasn't trying to be funny at all. And meanwhile, Rose was sitting on the other side of The Nightmare, not even bothering to hide her smirk.

So, Albus just slumped down in his seat and tried to ignore Lizzie, who was giving him this "I'm interested in you" smile, and prayed that they would get to Hogwarts soon. Surely, he and Rose would be able to shake off The Nightmare once they got to school.

Wrong.

The Nightmare followed them onto their boat and stood too close to him while they waited to be Sorted. (While they were waiting, he accidentally brushed her hand with his, and then plunged both hands into the pockets of his robes so she wouldn't get the wrong idea.) As much as he would have liked to tell her how incredibly annoying she was, and to leave him alone, he didn't want to hurt her feelings. Besides, she would probably start crying and he couldn't stand it when girls cried.

So he was sorted into Slytherin, Rose into Gryffindor, and The Nightmare into Ravenclaw. He was grateful for this. Perhaps if they were in different Houses, that would put enough distance between them to make her forget all about him. Albus lay awake that night, thinking about all this and suddenly felt very alone. _Why_ hadn't he tried to make friends, or at least bother to introduce himself to a few people? He had been too irritated by The Nightmare and bitterly disappointed about being put into Slytherin, that's why.

The oy in the bed next to him was snoring so loud that he was barely able to hear himself think, which was fine by him. He didn't want to think about how lonely and homesick he was. He flopped over on his stomach with a sigh and eventually fell asleep.

The next morning, Albus woke up to an argument:

" - can't! I don't even have a broomstick!" one voice cried.

"So borrow one from the school!" a second voice urged.

"No! The school broomsticks are crap!"

"So, what's the matter? You should be used to it! Everythin you own is a pile of dragon dung, anyway!"

There was a thump and the second voice cried out, "Ow! Vincent, you poor piece of crap! What was that for?" and Albus assumed that the first boy had slugged him.

"God, Scorpius, you're such a spoiled brat. Why don't I ride your Thunderbolt 5000, and you borrow a broomstick from the school?"

"No way! The Thunderbolt is _mine!_"

"Sharing is caring."

"Screw you," Scorpius said, and they both laughed a little.

Albus stared at the ceiling. The two boys could only be Scorpius Malfoy and Vincent Mendoza, both purebloods and proud of it - according to the rumors, anyway. He knew that his family wouldn't be too thriled that he was associating with them, but the lure of friends was too strong. He threw open the curtains on his four-poster bed and asked,

"Are you talking about Quidditch?"

Both boys looked surprised at the outburst. Scorpius, his skin looking especially pale and his once slicked back blonde hair now messy and sticking up in wild directions, said, "Yeah. I'm trying to convince Vincent," he jabbed his thumb at a Puerto boy whose black hair was darker than Albus's. "to try out for the Slytherin Quidditch team with me this Friday but the prat's being stubborn."

"I'm lousy at Quidditch! I'm afraid of heights!" Vincent protested, angrily.

"Well, we're just going to have to change that, now won't we?" Albus asked and Scorpius grinned like a fool, but Vincent only glared at him.

"And who are _you?_" he demanded.

"Albus Potter."

Vincent's jaw dropped and all irritation was wiped from his face. "Albus _Potter?_ As in, Harry Potter's son? You're joking!"

It took another five minutes for Albus to convince him that he was, indeed, _not_ joking and by that time, Scorpius looked very irritated so Albus tried to cheer him up.

"Hey, Scorp, I'll try out with you. What position are you going out for?"

Scorpius shrugged. "The only open positions are for Seeker or Chaser. Either one would be fine, I suppose."

The three of them walked down to breakfast, discussing Quidditch and the new types of broomsticks that had recently come out, and all was well. Albus was sure that things were going to get better. Until...

"ALBUS!" an annoying voice squealed and an annoying girl flung herself in his arms. "Oh my Gosh, Hogwarts is even more amazing than I hoped! Don't you just love it here?" The Nightmare gushed as she squeezed the life out of him.

"Hey, Al, who's your friend?" Vincent asked, smirking, and The Nightmare turned to face him and Scorpius.

"I'm Lizzie!" she chirped. "And you are?"

"Vincent. And this is Scorpius."

The Nightmare clapped her hands together in delight. "Well, aren't you two just the cutest things?" Both Vincent and Scorpius looked extremely pleased with themselves afte this. "Well, what are we talking about?" Albus cringed when she said 'we'. He hated the wa she could just insert herself into his conversations...into his _life!_

"Quidditch," both Vincent and Scorpius answered.

"Ooh, what's that? It sounds fun!"

"It's only the greatest sport in the world!" Scorpius cried. "I'm trying out for the Slytherin team this Friday and so is Albus. Rght, Al?"

"Er - yeah."

The Nightmare's entire face lit up at this. "You _are?_ Why didn't you _tell_ me? Can I come watch you try out?"

"No!" Albus cried at the same times as Scorpius said, "Sure!" The two boys looked at each other strangely.

"I apologize for Albus's rude behavior, Liz," Vincent comforted her. "He's just never had such a pretty girl like you lusting after him before so he doesn't quite know how to handle it."

Albus groaned while Scorpius roared with laughter. Thanks to these two, he was going to have Lizzie latched on for life!

At that exact moment, Rose came strolling up to them, as did James. Rose opened her mouth to say something but James cut her off. "I can't believe you're in Slytherin, Al. I truly can't believe it."

"_What?_ What about in the car when you were so sure that this was where I would end up?" Albus asked.

"I was just giving you a hard time! I didn't think you'd actually..." he trailed off, and thew a disgusted look in the direction of the Slyherin table.

Vincent looked furious and was glaring at James with such hatred that it looked like he was trying to set him on fire with his mind. Scorpius was being unusually quiet, Albus noticed, for Scorpius was staring at his cousin, Rose, with his mouth hanging open and his cheeks burning red.

"What's wrong with being in Slytherin?" Vincent asked James.

"Everything! There isn't a Dark Wizard out there who hasn't been in Slytherin!"

"Not all Slytherins turn out to be Dark Wizards!"

"Most of them do! And all it takes is most!"

"James, don't be a prat," Rose snapped and Scorpius reddened even further at the sound of her voice. James opened his mouth to argue but Rose's glare silenced him and he stormed away. "Sorry about that," she said.

"'S okay," Scorpius grumbled, now staring at his feet.

"I'm Lizzie!" The Nightmare chirped. "Want to watch the boys try out for the Slytherin Kwiffich team with me this Friday?"

Rose stared. "You mean Quidditch? Yeah, sure, I suppose."

The first week had been hectic for all of them. with new classes to get used to and, in Albus's case, new people to avoid. Not to mention Albus and Scorpius going down to the Quidditch field to practice every night, and the girls trying to make friends within their House. By the time Friday rolled around, all five of them were glad the week was over.

"You ready?" Scorpius asked Albus, clapping him on the back as they walked onto the Quidditch field Friday afternoon. They had their broomsticks slung over their shoulders and the warm breeze rustling their shorts.

"I guess so," Albus sighed, glancing up at Rose, Vincent, and The Nightmare waving at him from the stands.

"We'll be fine," Scorpius reassured him but even his blonde-haired friend looked uneasy as older, more experienced looking Slytherins started to show up for tryouts.

"Alright, we'll start with tryouts for a Chaser," the Captain, a tall athletic girl, announced.

Scorpius stepped forward with a few other intimidating candidates. After practicing all week, Scorpius decided that this was the position he would try out for when he found out he was especially good at scoring goals. Some of the older kids jeered at him, but Scorpius ignored them as he waited for his turn to try to get the Quaffle past the Keeper.

Albus watched as his friend kicked off the ground and into the air when his turn came. The Captain tossed him the Quaffle, which he caught easily. Albus felt a little better - the boy who tried out before Scorpius had nearly dropped it. Scorpius sped off in the direction of the hoops when the whistle sounded and launched the Quaffle through the hoop, the Keeper's fingers just brushing the ball as it flew past. He made four out of the five goals and flew excellently, but a cocky fifth year got the spot. But Albus thought that the Captain looked rather impressed with Scorpius.

The tryouts for Seeker were much simpler. Whoever caught the Snitch in the least amount of time got the spot, and Albus achieved this easily. Suddenly, he was thankful for all those practice games of Quidditch played at the Burrow with his cousins.

The Captain, whose name was Angela Rockford, told him that this was the first time she let a first year on her team so he had better not disappoint her. Then she lowered her voice and said, "And tell your friend that if McCormick," she gestured to the fifth year who got Scorpius's spot. "ever can't play, not even to ask. Just come on down for practice."

Excitedly, Albus ran to tell Scorpius the news, who was now sitting in the stands with Rose, Vincent, and The Nightmare.

"Wicked!" Scorpius cried, delighted, and then the five of them sat under the large tree next to the lake that Harry, Ron and Hermione had sat under a generation before, and James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew had sat under even before that.

"Oh my God, Rosie, just _look_ at him!" Lizzie moaned and Albus had to suppress a groan: he wasn't in the mood to be drooled over. But Lizzie wasn't talking about him. She was pointing to a blonde boy (who slightly resembled Scorpius) who was skippinh rocks on the lake's surface.

"Who is he?" Rose asked.

"His name is Luke Cunningham and he is the cutest, sweetest, funniest, _cutest_ boy I've ever met," Lizzie gushed and then laid on her back, both hands over her heart. "I am in love with him."

"I thought you were in love with Albus!" Vincent cried.

"Hey, there's enough of me to go around!" she said, and they all laughed.

At that moment, all the stress from the week melted away. At that moment, something clicked and they all became friends. Even Albus and Lizzie.


	2. Chapter 2

YEAR ONE

_Lizzie_

Halloween was just around the corner and Lizzie couldn't be more excited. She was too old for trick-or-treating but she just loved the holiday in general. Besides, Vincent told her that there would be a Halloween feast, so she had that to look forward to. Other things that she had to look forward to were any classes she had with the Slytherins, where she got to see The Sex God.

Lizzie had never shared her nickname for Albus with anyone (not even Rose!) because they might think it was inappropriate. Well, it _was_ inappropriate but from the minute she laid eyes on Albus Potter, she knew that no nickname would suit him better. Lizzie had lusted after plenty of guys before (and that's saying something, seeing as she's only eleven) but when she met Albus, she knewhe was The One for her. He seemed to be resisting her, but she was sure it was because he was just shy. That was probably partly her fault. Lizzie knew that hse came on a little strong sometimes but he was just _so_ cute and she couldn't help herself.

"Lizzie? Are you paying attention?" Rose asked her, waving a hand in front of her face. They were doing their homework in the library but so far all Lizzie had accomplished was writing her and Albus's initials, surrounded by little hearts, all over her parchement.

"No," she replied, honestly. "How do you expect me to study when I have boys on the mind?"

Rose sighed. "Who is it this time? Luke Cunningham? Ralph Young? Some upperclassmen that smiled at you in the hallway? Or is it my dear cousin again?"

Lizzie decided to ignore her best friend's rudeness and plunged into a rant about what her and Albus's wedding will look like. "...do you think Al will care that he'll have to wear a tuxedo instead of dress robes? Because my parents are Muggles and they'll probably think wizard attire would be unusual for a wedding - or in general, for that matter. But oh well, Albus will look much more handsome in a tux, anyway - "

"Lizzie. Stop." Lizzie halted in her rant at the sternness of her best friend's voice. Rose was looking very grave but also very uncomfortable and embarassed.

"What's the matter?"

"I just don't think that pining after Albus all the time is going to make him like you. Maybe you should - I don't know - back off a bit? Start to like a few other guys?" Rose suggested, then added, "But we probably won't have to worry about boyfriends for a few more years, right?"

"Speak for yourself!" Lizzie huffed and Rose, sensing Lizzie's anger towards her, quietly went back to her book. The brunette packed up her stuff and announced, coolly, to Rose that she was leaving and then stormed out of the library where she could fume in private. How could Rose speak for Albus? She was not the boss of him! Suddenly, Vincent's advice from a few weeks ago crept into her mind: _"Your whole obsession with Albus was funny at first, amiga, but now it might be time to move on."_

Lizzie's heart sank. Rose and Vincent's lectures had sounded too similiar for comfort. Have they, along with Scorpius and Albus, been talking about her behind her back? She did not like this thought one bit. She didn't exactly give off the greatest first impression and now that she had finally found real friends, _good_ friends, she was going to screw it up! Just like she always does!

Maybe Rose was right. Maybe she _should_ like a few other guys, to get Albus off her mind for a bit. She wouldn't want him out of her mind completely - she was still convinced he was The One - just pushed off to the side for a while. It would give her a chance to act normally around him. After all, why would he like someone who acts like a crazy, love-obsessed fool? Lizzie racked her brain for boys in this school worthy of being liked, boys that compared to Albus - well, no boy could compare to her Albus but some came close.

Then it hit her: Luke Cunningham! Hadn't she told her friends that she had been in love with him the very first week of school? She ought to pay that boy much more attention. Although, he, like many of the other first years, might think that eleven years was much too young for dating but she would make him see the error of his ways. Then, there was the fact that Luke looked a bit like Scorpius. Not that she minded - Scorpius was a cutie. _Hey!_ she thought, a stroke of brilliance coming to her. _Maybe Albus will make the same connection and he'll get _really_ jealous!_ Delighted at this, Lizzie ran to the Ravenclaw commonroom to associate herself with Luke.

On the way there, she ran by a Ravenclaw girl in her year in the hallway. The girl's name was Debbie Cadigan, and Debbie was surrounded by admirers, both male and female. Lizzie felt jealousy burning in her chest. She paused to watch Debbie throw a lock of golden hair over her shoulder and say something to make everyone around her laugh. Along with the jealousy, Lizzie also felt admiration for this girl. One day, she hoped that would be her. Lizzie continued along her way to the commonroom, fantasizing that she was in Debbie's place. She imagined she was older, much older, and so pretty that she outshined every other girl at the school. She imagined that kids that thought she was strange now would one day crave her attention. She imagined that Albus was in that crowd, telling her how amazing she was and how he should have realized it sooner. Then she would laugh and tell him that it was better late than never and he would plant a big smoocheroo on her eager lips.

Lost in her daydreams, Lizzie didn't even realize that she had come to the Ravenclaw door, and it was asking her a question. A question that she didn't know the answer to.

"I - I - um - " she stammered and a silky voice from behind her said,

"Well, it depends on how you look at it."

"Well put," the door said and swung open. Lizzie turned around to see her savior and locked eyes with Debbie Cadigan.

"Thanks!" she said.

Debbie moved past her, and Lizzie followed. Debbie said, "You're Lizzie Silver, right?"

"That's right!" Lizzie chirped, delighted. Debbie knew her name! Perhaps, if they became friends, she could be standing next to Debbie in the hallway, surrounded by admirers. Her fantasy could actually come true!

"The girl that can never answer the door's questions?"

"Oh. Well, yes. That's me." This was a truth that her friends liked to tease her about but always embarassed Lizzie terribly. She was sure that Rose should have been put in Ravenclaw and not her. Rose was the brilliant one.

"Honestly, I don't see why the Sorting Hat put you in Ravenclaw if you can't even answer the simplest of questions. It's embarassing, really," Debbie said, sinking into the armchair next to the fire.

Lizzie winced. There had been slight malice in Debbie's words, but she chose to ignore them. After all, she would have to make sacrifices if she wanted her fantasy to become reality.

After realizing that Lizzie wasn't going to reply, Debbie plunged on: "So why were you in such a rush to get here? You can't have that much homework. The professors never give out too much near the holidays."

"No, I was actually coming here to - to talk to him," Lizzie admitted, pointing at Luke, who was doing his homework in a group of friends. Debbie turned to look at him.

"Which one?" she asked. "The blonde one?"

"That's him. His name is Luke and he's _so_ cute. Don't you think he's cute?" Lizzie resisted the urge to start gushing about Albus's cuteness, trying to keep her mind (and heart) focused on Luke.

"I suppose." Debbie turned back around and gazed into the fire. She sank into silence, but Lizzie was determined to keep the conversation going.

"What about you? I saw some cute boys with you in the hallway earlier. Are you working an angle?"

Debbie smirked and rolled her eyes (in a playful way) at this remark. "No, I like someone else."

"Really? Who?"

"He's a second year. You wouldn't know him."

"Well, then tell me about him," Lizzie pushed. If there was one thing she knew how to talk about, it was boys!

"Maybe some other time. Look, your man is alone now. It's time to make you move," Debbie remarked, nodding towards Luke, whose friends had departed, and who was now alone.

"Great! Thanks!" Lizzie cried, jumping up and made her way over to where Luke was sitting. After nearly an hour of talking and flirting with Luke, Lizzie departed for bed, and when she checked the armchair, Debbie was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: A lot of you guys have been asking in your reviews - reviews that I greatly appreciate - for more Scorpius/Rose and believe me, it will come but just...not for a while, k? Obviously, since they're in their first year, there aren't going to be any make-out scenes but there WILL be cute, flirty scenes between them, just wait.**

**And they won't officially get together until they're a lot older but there will be lots of interesting things going on to hold you off until then. I understand if you're the type of person that wants the pairing right away and isn't willing to wait, so it's cool if you want to give up on this story but it would be even greater if you would give it a chance!**

**Just hang in there, okay?**

**-Rachel**

**P.S. Not to give anything away, but if you wanted to read some Scorpius and Rose scenes, this chapter would be the one for you. *nudge, nudge***

YEAR ONE

_Rose_

The Halloween feast was a great success. Rose had never _seen_ so much food. Her cousins had been absolutely right when they said it was magnificent. Lizzie had seemed to forgotten about her and Rose's little disagreement in the library by the time the feast rolled around, and everything between them was normal again. Lizzie even seemed to have taken her advice and started to tone down her craziness when Albus was around - something her cousin greatly appreciated.

Right now, Rose was doing her homework in the library with Scorpius and wondering if Hogwarts had a Thanksgiving feast, too. Rose had kept her promise to her father, the one where she would beat Scorpius in every test. Scorpius was brilliant and came second in every class, only behind her. At first, Scorpius could barely look at her without getting red in the face and he couldn't even talk to her, but after some time this wore off and they were able to act like friends and even (playful) rivals.

Rose liked Scorpius. He was nice - not at all what her father warned her he would be like - but not a loudmouth like Vincent, and he didn't make fun of her for loving the library, like Albus and Lizzie did. He understood what she meant when she said the library was quiet and peaceful, where you could think things through, where you could get things _done._

She had been lost in her thoughts for almost five minutes before she realized Scorpius was staring at her. Not in the creepy, lovey-dovey way that Lizzie stared at Albus, he was simply observing her with a smirk on his face.

"What is it?" she asked, and he gestured to her Herbology essay, which was twice as long as the required amount and she was now drawing a chart to show the effects of the said plant over the last decade. "What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing. It's just nice to know that there's someone in this school that's a bigger nerd than me," he said, and Rose glared at him.

"In case you haven't noticed, Malfoy, _I_ am number one in all of our classes while _you_ are number two," she pointed out, but he only smirked at her and popped a barbecue chip into his mouth. Hogwarts had gotten a new librarian, one who was much more laid back about eating in the library than Madame Pince was.

"Oi! Move over, pipsqueak!" a loud voice boomed from behind them, and they both turned. A large boy was making his way over to them, or perhaps 'boy' was the wrong word. He looked more like a small gorilla to Rose. The boy shoved Scorpius out of the way, who sprawled onto the floor. Then the boy said, "I'm Dennis. Can I talk to you?"

"No, you jerk. Apologize to Scorpius and maybe I'll consider speaking with you," she said, angrily, and Dennis looked at Scorpius who had gotten to his feet and was now brushing off his jeans.

Dennis snorted. "Sorry, kid." Then he turned back to Rose. "You're Rose Weasley, right?"

"Yes. Why do you want to know?"

Dennis started to look embarassed. "Well - er - it's just that I've noticed you around school and - "

"You _fancy_ her!" an obnoxious voice cried out. The speaker was Vincent, and he and Albus were walking towards the three of them.

"Hey, wait a second!" Albus said, and pointed at Dennis. "I know you! You're in my brother's year!"

"Yeah, so?" Dennis growled. His face had turned completely red, from embarassment or anger Rose didn't know. And she didn't want to find out.

"He's told me all about you! You're Dennis Tecchio and he said - " Albus stopped, suddenly horrified. Rose had a feeling that James hadn't told Albus very nice things about Dennis Tecchio.

"What did he say?" Dennis had moved away from the table and was advancing towards Albus, when Vincent spoke up.

"He probably said how you were the stupidest, _ugliest_ second year that Hogwarts has ever seen!" Vincent's smile split into an even wider one. "I bet you're in Hufflepuff, aren't you?"

"So what if I am?" Dennis snarled, and grabbed the collar of Vincent's shirt in his massive fist. "I can still beat the piss out of you without even thinking about it."

Everything happened so fast. Scorpius and Albus were hollering, and soon all three boys had jumped onto Dennis, and were rolling around on the floor, their wands forgotten. Suddenly, Debbie and Lizzie were there, both screaming for the boys to break it up and both started to cry. The librarian rushed out of his office to try to break up the fight. But during all of this, Rose was the only one who had the sense to use her wand.

"_Petrificus Totalus!_" she cried and Dennis went rigid and still. Scorpius, Albus, and Vincent were all tangled up together on the floor and the librarian had to get them sorted out. Debbie looked furious: her perfect hair was looking frizzy and out of place, and her usual pretty face was blotchy. She pointed an accusing finger at Rose. "You! You put him back right now!"

"No, I don't think I will. He got what he deserved," Rose replied, coolly.

Debbie tried to regain control of herself. She smoothed out her hair and took a deep breath, as if to say: "I'm cool, I'm cool," but her eyes said something competely different. Her eyes looked murderous. "Just you wait," she said. "He's going to come after you. _All_ of you."

"Not Rose!" Scorpius piped up. "He _fancies_ her!" Then he, Albus, and Vincent all started to snicker. Debbie whipped around to face them.

"_What did you say?"_

"I _said,_ your friend Dennis here fancies Rose! He won't touch a hair on her head!"

"Well, _fine!_" Debbie shrieked. "If Dennis won't come after you, then _I_ will!"

"But Debbie, why do you care if Dennis fancies Rose?" Lizzie asked, timidly, and then Debbie said that she would come after Lizzie, too, even if it killed her. Something in Lizzie's entire face lit up and she gasped. "It's him, isn't it? Dennis is the second year that you like!"

Debbie blushed, and then turned to the boys. "You'd better pray that Dennis is in the hospital for a long time. Because when he gets out, you'll be _sorry._" There was no time for retaliation because at that moment, the librarian came back with Madame Pomfrey, and Debbie followed them out as Dennis was carried to the Hospital Wing in a stretcher.

"He was only petrified," Albus said. "I don't see why they had to take him to the Hospital Wing."

"Yeah! What about me? I've been seriously injured!" Vincent cried, pretending to be furious and pointed to a bite mark on his arm. "The prat bit me."

"Whoops. Sorry, that was me," Scorpius admitted.

"Well, Liz, it looks like your idol, Debbie, turned out to be a total psycho," Rose joked, but Lizzie didn't look amused.

"She is _not_ my idol anymore. I hate her."

"Well, you're not alone. I hate her too."

"Do you really think Dennis is going to come after us?" Albus asked, looking worried. Vincent shrugged, but Scorpius answered,

"Maybe he will, maybe he won't. I don't really care."

"Ooh, well, aren't you brave? I see Dennis isn't the only one around here who's trying to impress Rose," Vincent teased, and Scorpius went scarlet and mumbled something about not trying to impress her.

After a while, Albus left for Quidditch practice, Vincent departed for the commonroom and Lizzie went to go fetch her homework, leaving Rose and Scorpius alone once more.

"Were you really trying to impress me?" she asked, expecting him to blush and get all tongue-tied again but he just smiled and shook his head.

"Nah. Vincent doesn't know what he's talking about. You know him - he's always jumping to wild conclusions."

She laughed. "Oh, right."

Debbie might have been crazy but she was right about one thing - Dennis _did _make sure that he got his revenge on Albus, Scorpius, and Vincent, for he and a couple of his large friends cornered each one of them individually and personally put them in the Hospital Wing. All three boys insisted that they didn't know who had beat the snot out of them when asked about it by Madame Pomfrey, because Scorpius couldn't face the humiliation of telling his father what had happened, Vincent didn't want to give Dennis the satisfaction of thinking that he was going to hide all teary-eyed behind Madame Pomfrey's skirt, and Albus didn't even know why he denied knowing who had done this to him. He didn't even think about it, he just started denying, denying, denying.

These were all valid reasons, but each one of them knew that if they told on Dennis, he would come after them again. They wouldn't admit it, but they were all secretly a little afraid of him.

The entire month of November was spent of the boys dodging Dennis in the hallway, and the girls trying to ignore Debbie's murderous glares. Hogwarts had been great at first, but all of a sudden the whole experience was starting to go downhill now that they hadn't even been here six months and they had already made enemies.

Rose knew that things were rough for all of them right now but she felt like she had the worst of both worlds. The boys only had to deal with Dennis and Lizzie only had to deal with Debbie, but Rose had to ignore Debbie's sneers and rude remarks as she walked by and _try_ to ignore Dennis as he followed her around school. She didn't know about the rest of them, but she couldn't _wait_ to go back home for Christmas.


	4. Chapter 4

YEAR ONE

_Scorpius_

Christmas was approaching a lot faster than any of them expected. The weather got colder, the snow thicker, and the classes harder. It seemed like the teachers were really packing on the homework before Christmas break. Great, just what Scorpius needed. He had already spent the last month and a half avoiding beatings from Dennis, ignoring glares from people he didn't know - no doubt the result of his father's actions during the Hogwarts Battle - and speaking of his father, they weren't on the best of terms ever since Scorpius told him about being friends with a Potter, a Weasley, and a Mudblood.

On the first month of school, when Scorpius tried his hardest in all his classes but still came up short behind Rose, he swallowed his pride and asked her to help him study. And ever since, they had been meeting one or two nights a week to catch up on their homework and prepare for exams and, miraculously, enjoy each other's company.

Scorpius remembered the first time he and Rose had done their homework in the library together. He had been excited but also dreading the awkward silences that were bound to spring upon them, and as he was walking to the library, bookbag in hand, he made a mental note to never, ever tell his father about this, ever. A Malfoy seeking help from a Weasley? It was unheard of. Which was why he was grateful for Rose not telling the others about their little study sessions until she could brush it off as nothing, no big deal.

It seemed like she had been waiting for him. Her books were all neatly set up on one side of the table, but she had left room for him and smiled, warmly, at him when he sat down. He had expected a "Hey, Scorpius," or for her to tease him about asking for her help, but instead she apologized for James's behavior.

Albus and Rose had been the only two of the Potter-Weasley clan to give Scorpius a chance, but the others weren't as kind. Take James, for example. Scorpius had never been more embarassed in his life when James had used an Engorgement Charm on him in the corridor, causing his nose to swell twice its normal size in a matter of seconds. He could hear other kids laughing at him as he rushed to the Hospital Wing. Scorpius would never say anything because Albus was his best mate, but he hated James Potter.

"It's fine. I didn't even care," Scorpius lied, and he could tell that Rose knew he was lying, but she didn't say anything.

The awkward silence that Scorpius had predicted filled the room as he took his books out and spread them on the table, but it quickly faded when they began to talk to each other. They talked about their families and their favorite classes and what books they like. Rose even told him about sometimes feeling pressured to live up to her parents' expectations and he let slip about his desire to become a writer. He also told her about how desperately he wanted to beat her in their classes, but Rose just laughed and told him not to hold his breath.

The study sessions got more and more comfortable until Scorpius was totally relaxed around Rose, and he knew how nerdy this sounded, but he actually looked forward to them. Scorpius thought about all this as he and Rose were walking back from the library at the end of one of their sessions when Albus, Vincent, and Lizzie came sprinting up to them, blabbering about how Lizzie's parents had sent her a fricking _sled_ and they were going to go use it and if they wanted to come.

"Sure, I just have to put my books away," Rose said and Scorpius agreed with her, and they all went their seperate ways: Rose to Gryffindor tower, Scorpius to the Slytherin dungeons and the other three back outside into the cold and snow.

Scorpius took his time putting on his winter clothes. Slowly, he put on his sweatpants, then two layers of socks and his boots. Next came his jacket and his mittens. He was lost in thought, unable to concentrate on what he was doing but was forced to focus when he tried to force his father's winter hat onto his foot. Scorpius took the hat into his hand and studied it, closely. The hat was furry, Russian, and had once been his father's. Malfoys never had hand-me-downs because they always had the best of everything, but the hat had been an exception. His father told him that he liked that hat a lot as a kid but he had outgrown it so it was Scorpius's now.

He put the hat on his head. It was comfortable. And warm, too. But his ears were exposed and Scorpius couldn't stand it when his ears got cold. He fished the earmuffs his mother had given him out of his trunk, put them on, and took off his father's hat. With the earmuffs on, he could hardly hear a thing. Perhaps that was better. Then he wouldn't be able to hear the other children calling him names as he walked down the hallway. He figured it would be much easier to ignore it when you couldn't hear it. Scorpius tucked the hat away in his suitcase, where it wouldn't get lost, and walked down the corridors to the front door of the castle, which he stepped out of and spotted his friends almost immediately. They were playing with a plastic sled on the frozen over Black Lake. At the moment, Lizzie was perched on top of the bright purple sled, both hands gripping the sides tightly, and then Vincent and Albus let out triumphant yells and ran at the sled as fast as they could, each seizing one side of it and pushing. The sled - and Lizzie - went flying across the frozen lake, making shrieking ice skaters scatter. They threw her dirty looks and all of the ice skaters had nearly gone by the time Scorpius made his way over to them.

"Finally," Rose said as Lizzie grabbed the handle of the sled and started to walk back towards them. "I thought you were going to flake out on us."

"I would never do that," he replied.

"Well, you took forever."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry."

Rose looked at him, puzzled. "What's wrong?"

Scorpius gazed back at her, equally as puzzled. "What do you mean? Nothing's wrong."

"Oh. You were just acting...odd."

Before Scorpius had time to react, Vincent had ran over to where the two of them were standing and dragged him over to the sled for his turn. It was the most fun Scorpius had had all year. Occasionally, a student or two would approach them and ask if they could have a turn on the sled, and they weren't quite sure what to say. They didn't want to share, but they also didn't want to be mean - except for Vincent. He yelled at everyone who dared ask for a turn to "GET LOST!" For the first time in his life, Scorpius was thankful that Vincent was loud and rude.

It was Rose's turn again and Scorpius and Albus were pushing her on the sled this time. She screamed, happily, as the sled slid across the ice. And the sled kept sliding and sliding and _sliding._ When the sled finally reached to a stop Rose carefully got out and made her way back to where the others were standing, wearing a triumphant smile. "Beat _that,_" she said, and the rest of the afternoon was spent trying to get the sled farther than the spot where Rose had gone.

Lizzie almost made it, but not quite, and Rose was never able to reach the same spot again. Albus and Vincent didn't even come close. Now it was Scorpius's turn and he sat down in the sled while his two fellow Slytherins positioned themselves behind him, ready to push the sled. Vincent bellowed the countdown and they both rushed at the sled, pushing with all their might, and Scorpius went flying. The bitter cold winds nipped at his cheeks (now he was really grateful for his earmuffs) and he gripped the side of the sled even tighter. It seemed like the sled took forever to slow down and when it did, Scorpius was sure he had gotten much farther than where Rose had gone because he could hear his friends cheering ad hollering things like, "You did it!" and "Way to go, Scorp!"

He was glowing with pride when he stepped out of the sled, so much that he didn't notice the ice started to crack when he put his weight on it. "Beat _that,_ Rosie!" he hollered, holding the sled over his head in victory and began to run back towards them when he heard a splintering _crack!_ and he was plunged into ice-cold water.

The water was so cold that it burned. It felt like icy knives poking every inch of his exposed skin and his heavy bundle of winter clothes was weighing him down. In his panic, he thrashed around in the water, reaching out for something, _anything_ that would save him. But there was nothing, and down and down he sank. Suddenly, Scorpius remembered that his father had told him something about a giant squid living in these waters and he tried to scream, but only bubbles came out, and they floated to the surface. He looked around for a giant squid but he couldn't see one, and he was becoming painfully aware that the farther he sank down to the bottom, the colder and darker it was. His lungs burned. He could't _breathe._ And he thought he peed his pants, but he wasn't sure.

There was one thing he was sure of, though: he was going to drown in this lake. Scorpius was starting to fade out of consciousness when a hand plunged forward and seized the front of his jacket, heaving him upwards, toward the surface. In all of Scorpius's panic, his beloved earmuffs had become lopsided and only covered his right ear, leaving his left exposed. The person who had come to Scorpius's rescue was Albus and he dragged Scorpius to the surface with himself, and they were both sputtering and gasping for breath. Scorpius had begun to cry as he was helped out of the water and Rose glared at Vincent, as if daring him to make fun of him for it. But for the first time in his life, Vincent was speechless.

By now, a large crowd had formed and all eyes were upon them. Dennis and Debbie were among the crowd and they both looked like Christmas had come early. Teachers were pushing students out of the way to get through. The first to arrive on the scene was Hagrid, followed by Professor Longbottom and then Professor McGonagall (yes, she was _still_ here). Professor Longbottom took off his winter jacket and draped it around Scorpius's shoulders, and escorted him to the Hospital Wing while Professors Hagrid and McGonagall stayed behind to question the others about what happened.

Professor Longbottom was yet another one of the people that his father hadn't gotten along with, so Scorpius didn't fancy him much. But he soon became his favorite teacher when Dennis said that he wished Scorpius had drowned in that lake and Professor Longbottom gave him detention for a week for being rude. Forget the incident with James, Scorpius decided, _this_ was the most embarassing thing that had ever happened to him, mostly because the majority of the school probably agreed with Dennis.

When he got to the Hospital Wing, Madame Pomfrey made Professor Longbottom fetch clothes for him to change into and gave him several heavy blankets. She also had Professor Longbottom send his parents an owl, notifying them of the incident. Personally, Scorpius thought this was silly since he would see them in person tomorrow for Christmas vacation and he could tell them then, but he got no say in this. As he lay in bed, Scorpius had begun to thaw out and was feeling very comfortable and sleepy. By the time Albus, Lizzie, Vincent and Rose had pried themselves away from the teachers and got up to the Hospital Wing, Scorpius was asleep.

**Xxx**

Madame Pomfrey woke him the next morning, telling him that it was time to get ready because the train was leaving soon. She said that Vincent and Albus had packed his trunk for him already so all he had to do was get on the train. She also informed him that he had walked away from the accident without any serious injury, just a bad cold and an ear infection in his left ear.

"I would take a closer look at it now but there's no time," she said, regarding his ear. "You can call a Healer to come look at it when you get home, if it becomes too serious." After that, she shooed him out the door.

Scorpius got on the train just in time, and managed to find the compartment with the four faces he wanted to see most inside. Albus and Vincent had, in fact, packed his trunk and brought it with them on the train and Scorpius couldn't put into words how grateful he was for this. Well, he _could_ but it would probably end up sounding corny. The five of them talked and laughed and stuffed their faces with food from the trolley and, miraculously, were not bothered at all by Dennis or Debbie the entire trip to King's Cross Station.

Lizzie's parents looked so confused about being there that she had to rush to help them, and had no time for introducing herself to Albus and Rose's parents, like she had planned on doing. Vincent barely had any time to say goodbye before he met up with his older brother, Marcus (a third year), and he dragged them both out of the station as quickly as possible. From the way his mum dressed and the shabbiness of Vincent's things, it was obvious that they were poor and it was also obvious how embarassed Vincent was by this. Albus and Rose joined their parents and siblings, who welcomed them with open arms.

Scorpius's mother looked like she had been up all night, and she trapped him in a tight bear hug with no room to breathe the minute he got within ten feet of her. "Your father and I have been worried _sick_ about you ever since we got that letter yesterday afternoon!" To tell you the truth, his mother was the only one that looked worried sick - she had always been a bit overprotective. His father looked so relieved to see him alive that he seemed to have forgotten that he was upset with him, which was a good thing.

But then Rose waved to him while he was trying to pry himself from his mother's arms and his father seemed to have remembered. _Damn,_ Scorpius thought. _I was so close._

When they want back to the house, his mum went into Caring Mother mode and made him stay in bed for his cold, delivering him chicken soup and juice on a tray and taking his temperature every few hours. Scorpius didn't mind. All the time in bed gave him time to do all the homework he had been given over break and he was also able to work on a few of his stories. His mum knew exactly what to do to take care of a cold but when it came to his ear infection she insisted to just wait it out, that it would go away on its own because that's what it did for her when she was a child.

It didn't go away.

Over the next week or two, the pain in his ear had gone from mild to severe, so severe that it would wake him up in the middle of the night and Scorpius would lay awake for hours, refusing to let himself cry. The constant pain in his ear made him grumpy and irritable, and he didn't want to eat anything his mother brought up to his room and when he did, he threw it up soon after.

"We'll go to St. Mungo's in the morning," his mother promised him and then kissed him on the forehead. She had gotten up to go pee and decided to check on him, discovering that he was still awake, because his ear hurt so bad that it was keeping him up.

"Finally," he joked but she didn't look amused.

"I'm sorry for waiting so long to get your ear looked at, baby. I really thought it would go away on its own," she admitted, sadly.

He shrugged. "It's okay. Ear infections usually go away on their own. Everyone knows that." She smiled at him and kissed him again before turning to exit the room. "Get some sleep tonight, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am," he replied. She told him she loved him and he returned the favor and then she left, leaving him alone with his throbbing ear. Eventually, he managed to fall into a fitful sleep but when he woke up the next morning, a Healer wasn't necessary.

Scorpius got up and ran around the house hollering that he had gone deaf. He couldn't hear a thing out of his left ear and when a Healer did look at it, he said there was no way to reverse it. Magic could do nothing against a malfunction of the five senses. His mother cried the whole drive home. Scorpius and his father didn't say a word and when he got home, Scorpius locked himself in his room. He didn't do anything particularly interesting, he just sat on his bed and thought about how he would never hear out of that ear again, and he kept reaching up to touch it: sticking his finger inside, tracing the outiside and pulling on the earlobe. He was suddenly fascinated with it. He didn't know why he wasn't upset.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in," he called out and his father entered the room, and sat down on the bed.

"Your mum thinks you hate her," Draco said, feeling like an awkward messenger boy.

"I don't hate her. That's ridiculous," Scorpius replied, tugging on his left earlobe, not noticing his father watching him do this.

"That's what I said."

"Why does she think I hate her?"

"Because she's convinced that this whole thing is her fault, that she should have had a Healer look at your ear sooner."

"It was an honest mistake."

"I know."

"It isn't anybody's fault."

"I know."

Scorpius fidgeted, itching to ask his dad the question he had been thinking about ever since he got home. He had been figuring out how he was going to ask it, when it just slipped out: "Do you hate me?"

"No one in this family hates anyone else," Draco said, firmly. "I don't know why you and your mother don't see that!"

"But you don't like my friends," Scorpius said. "I didn't mean to be friends with them. It just sort of happened." Draco said nothing, so Scorpius plunged on. "Albus was the one who pulled me out of the water, you know. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't even be alive."

Scorpius had meant for this to make his dad like his friends, but what happened was quite the opposite. _Why do Potters always have to save Malfoys? _Draco thought, bitterly. As if he didn't already owe that family enough, now his son's life was indebted to them as well!

"I suppose I can't hate them if they haven't done anything wrong," Draco said. "but if I hear _anything_ that suggests that they are a bad influence on you, I want you to seperate yourself from them. Do I make myself clear?"

"That won't happen, sir." Draco and Astoria had prided themselves in teaching their only son, as a baby, to say things like _'yes, sir' _and _'no, ma'am'_ and _'please'_ before he even learned how to say _'mama'._

"But if it does."

"Yes, sir, I will," Scorpius said, not intending to keep this promise at all, if the situation ever came up.

Draco made sure all his homework was done and informed him that dinner would be ready soon before he departed to tell his wife that her only son didn't hate her. Scorpius was left alone, and suddenly had a thought. Why hadn't his right ear gotten infected? Because his earmuffs had been covering it, that's why.

_It's funny,_ Scorpius thought, _that if my earmuffs had stayed on properly then none of this would have happened._

**A/N: You might have noticed that this chapter is longer and more detailed, and has more background story than the other chapters and I plan on doing this for the rest of the chapters from here on out. And I hope I didn't fail too much at writing Draco...**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

**-Rachel**


	5. Chapter 5

YEAR ONE

_Vincent_

Christmas vacation was alright. He only got a few gifts: a pair of socks, a few books that he would never read, and a sweatervest that he wouldn't be caught dead in. But he knew that his mother had gone through the trouble of saving up the money so that he and his brother would have _something_ to open up on Christmas morning, so he smiled and hugged her and told her that he loved them. Because, while most people might think so, he _wasn't_ a heartless human being.

Then she dragged them off to their grandparents' house, where an awkward and very unpleasant Christmas dinner took place that ended in a lot of arguing and criticism of how Marcus and Vincent were being raised. Then Marcus got food poisoning from his grandmother's horrible cooking and vomited all over Vincent's favorite pair of jeans.

Oh well. It was better than last year.

By the time January rolled around, Vincent thought he would be thrilled to be back at Hogwarts with his friends. But on the train ride back to Hogwarts, all they talked about was how their vacation was and what they had gotten for Christmas and all that other junk. Vincent had never been embarassed about his family's welfare before he met them, and none of his friends ever gave him a hard time about it. But just the fact that all four of his best friends' parents were fucking _loaded_ made him feel ashamed of the way he lived.

Okay, so maybe Albus and Rose's parents weren't _loaded_ but they were pretty damm successful and had plenty of money. Not to mention they were famous. Everyone knew the Malfoys were about as rich as you can get, and Lizzie's parents were pretty well along enough to send her a sled the day before she left for Christmas vacation just because she _wanted_ it. So Vincent just sulked while he listened to his friends talk, sure that everyone had had a better Christmas vacation that him. Until Scorpius told them about his.

"Blimey, Scorp! You mean you went to sleep with your hearing working fine and when you woke up - _BAM!_ - " Vincent slammed his fist against the seat. "it was gone?"

"Yup," Scorpius said, popping a Chocolate Frog in his mouth.

"And the Healers couldn't do _anything?_" Rose asked in disbelief and Scorpius shook his head. Vincent spent the rest of the train ride whispering ridiculous things in Scorpius's left ear like, "You won't mind letting me copy off you for the rest of the year, will you?" and "Your mum gets me hot and bothered," things that he wouldn't dare say if Scorpius could hear him.

It felt so good to be back in the castle again, where the food was much better than his grandmother's and where he wouldn't have to freeze his butt off every night. It felt so good to be with his _friends,_ even though Dennis and Debbie smirked at them in the hallways, and Albus was beginning to worry that they were planning something. But every time he thought about this, Vincent just brushed it off. He wasn't much of a worrier.

Things quickly went back to their old routine. Rose and Scorpius outshone everyone in their classes - and were still meeting in the library a few times a week to study - while Albus and Lizzie's grades were exceptional and Vincent was barely scraping by. Lizzie was just as boy crazy as ever and still secretly lusting after Albus, no matter how many times she denied it. Albus was just happy that Lizzie had finally given him some breathing room.

Slytherin wasn't doing so hot in Quidditch matches. Albus confessed that Angela, their Captain, deeply regretted choosing Henry McCormick as Chaser over Scorpius, because while he was marvelous at the game, he was annoying and spent all the practices hollering instructions at everyone on how to play, ignoring Angela's authority completely. Slytherin was tied for second with Ravenclaw for the Cup, behind only Gryffindor. Albus had spent nearly every practice trying to convince Angela to give Henry the boot and let Scorpius play. He was sure that Scorpius would be better suited for the team than Henry, and Angela said she agreed with him, but decided to warn Henry about possible removal from the team if he continued to act up, and to let him play one more game to see if his attitude improved. Both Albus and Scorpius had their fingers crossed that he would be just as horrible, if not worse, in the upcoming game. Albus was sure Quidditch would be loads more fun if Scorpius was there. Besides, James would never let him forget it if Gryffindor beat Slytherin for the Cup.

Personally, Vincent had never been particularly interested in Quidditch - and he was afraid of heights - but his mother had always wanted to see him play for Slytherin, insisting that she would come watch him play if he made the team. But Vincent had no interest in joining the Quidditch team and tried to change the subject whenever it came up.

January was moving by slowly. Every day seemed the same to Vincent. His routine was the same every day and it was making him crazy. Albus shook up his boring life by suggesting that the five of them go down to Hagrid's over the weekend, and all four heartily agreed. Albus and Rose had been down to the gamekeeper's hut a few times since school started, and had never brought Lizzie, Scorpius or Vincent along, but claimed that they had told Hagrid all about them. "I think it's about time he meets you," Albus had said.

Finally, Vincent had something to look forward to. The days in the week dragged by with mindnumbing slowness and just when Vincent thought he would go crazy, it was Saturday. The five of them went to their own commonrooms to change into their winter clothes before meeting at the front door. Vincent felt a twinge of jealousy watching Albus and Scorpius bundle themselves up in warm clothes while all he had was his ratty sweatshirt and Marcus's old boots. The snow seemed to be miles high and he knew that his jeans were going to get soaked.

The three boys waited by the front door just like they said they would, but neither Rose nor Lizzie were anywhere in sight. "Women," Vincent joked and the other two laughed, but then they were all silent again, and remained that way until they saw Rose and Lizzie hurrying down the hallway in their snow things.

"Sorry we took so long," Rose apologized. "Lizzie left her boots in the commonroom and needed me to help her answer the door's question to get back inside." Lizzie went slightly pink at this and Vincent refrained himself from teasing her. Even he knew that there were some lines that he couldn't cross.

"Ready to go?" Albus asked and everyone nodded, and he led the way to Hagrid's hut. The silence that had hung over the boys while they were waiting for the girls were gone, and all five friends were joking and laughing as they trudged through the snow on the way to Hagrid's. Perhaps if they had been quieter, they would have heard Dennis and a few other tough-looking boys sneaking up behind them.

Vincent was in the middle of a joke when a snowball hit the back of Scorpius's head, knocking that ridiculous-looking furry hat off his head. They all spun around and were face-to-face with their attackers.

"What's the matter, Malfoy?" Dennis sneered as Scorpius scooped the hat off the ground and brushed it off before putting it back on his head. "Didn't you hear us coming?"

"Oh, I get it. It's funny because I'm deaf out of one ear, isn't that right, Dennis?" Scorpius sneered back.

"Just leave us alone. We're not bothering you!" Lizzie cried, fiercely but Dennis just seemed amused. One of his cronies whipped a snowball at Albus this time, hitting him square in the face.

"Oi!" Vincet yelled, angrily, and bent down to hastily prepare a snowball of his own before launching it at Dennis. It hit him in the chest and exploded, covering his face in white powder.

Dennis let out a cry of rage and soon both sides were squatting down to make as many snowballs as they possibly could as _quickly_ as they possibly could. Soon, snowballs were flying through the air, their throwers not even paying attention as to if it made its mark or not, but too busy crouching down to make more. Dennis's friends were just as large - and clumsy - as he was so they weren't able to dodge the snowballs like their opponents could and it was apparent who was winning.

But Dennis couldn't have that. When Vincent had ducked down to gather snow for another snowball, Dennis screamed, "Get them!" and someone had slammed Vincent into the ground.

"Umpf!" Vincent said when he made contact with the snowy ground and looked up to see Dennis glaring down at him.

"That arm of yours is pretty powerful." Dennis grabbed hold of Vincent's right arm and held it up. "Hit me with plenty of snow with that arm. Let's see how you like it now." Dennis bent Vincent's arm behind his back and then he heard a _snap!_ and he cried out from the sudden horrible pain in his right arm.

"Ay! What in the hell do yeh think yer doin'?" an angry voice cried out and Vincent worked hard to concentrate on something other than the pain in his arm. A large man with a big, bushy beard was running up to them, Lizzie and Rose trotting to catch up to him. Albus staggered to his feet, blood streaming from out of his nose at an alarming rate, and the boy that had given him that bloody nose was already running back towards the castle. There was another boy sitting on top of Scorpius, slugging him over and over again in his bad ear, blood squirting every time he made contact. Scorpius let out a low moan and the large man, who Vincent assumed was Hagrid, grabbed the boy by the scruff of the neck and threw him off, and then did the same to Dennis.

Albus helped Scorpius to his feet, and the entire left side of his face was drenched in blood. Lizzie approached Vincent to help him up, but he shook his head, clutching his arm to his chest. "My arm," he gasped. He felt like he would pass out if he tried to stand up.

"Hagrid! I think his arm is broken!" Rose said, and Hagrid rushed up to him, looking concerned. Dennis and his friend were inching towards the castle as Hagrid scooped Vincent into his arms but Hagrid caught them just in time. "Yeh two! What house are yeh in?"

"Hufflepuff," they both grumbled.

"Come with me. I'll let yer Head of House deal with yeh," Hagrid said and they followed Hagrid as he started to walk to the castle with Vincent in his arms. He called back, "Al, you and yer friend should come to the hospital with me. Yeh two aren't lookin' so great..."

Albus smiled and nodded, and he and Scorpius trudged after them, blood covering a majority of their faces, and Rose and Lizzie took up the rear. Vincent was staring up at the blue sky as Hagrid walked, trying to feel smug about getting Dennis in trouble, but he seemed unable to feel anything except pain and misery. Patheticness washed over him as he thought, _Why can't Dennis just leave us alone? We never do anything to him._ Then, he felt even more pathetic by wishing his mum was here.

Vincent had been so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't realize that they had gotten to the Hospital Wing until he was being laid down on a bed. Then, Madame Pomfrey was leaning over him with her wand, gently carressing (sp?) his broken arm. "Now this may hurt for just a second," she admitted and then raised her wand and said, "Episkey!" Vincent yelped when he felt another _snap!_ in his arm, but then it suddenly felt normal and pain-free again.

"Brilliant! Thanks!" he cried, but Madame Pomfrey had already moved onto Albus and Scorpius.

"What's the matter with you, dear? Is it broken?" she asked Albus, gingerly touching his nose.

"I think so."

"Alright, brace yourself. Episkey!" Albus cried out, too, but then reached up to touch his mended nose with a grin on his face.

"And you - oh my," Madame Pomfrey said as she approached Scorpius. "And that's your bad ear, isn't it?" He nodded, and she handed him a rag. "Wipe off the blood so I can get a good look at it." Hagrid told them to come by his hut later that night, if Scorpius was able, and then marched Dennis and his friend out of the Hospital Wing while Madame Pomfrey inspected Scorpius's ear.

As soon as they were gone, Vincent started to snicker. "The prat is really going to get it now!" Lizzie looked relieved, but Rose was shaking with rage. "Who does he think he is? Did you see how smug he looked after he broke Vincent's arm? Like he was actually _proud_ of himself! Oh, that boy just makes me sick!"

"At least he won't be getting away with it," Lizzie suggested, hopefully.

"What's he going to get? A few weeks of detention? A few months, if we're lucky! And then he'll be after us again!" Rose plopped herself down in a chair, still fuming. Quieter, she added, "I just hate that he can come in and ruin everything without even hardly trying."

"My dad _told_ me to try not to make enemies when I got here. I should have listened," Albus said, miserably. He was using another rag to wipe the blood off his face.

"It's not your fault, Al. It's that lunatic, Dennis's. He's crazy," Vincent said.

"Well," Madame Pomfrey said, leaning back and pretending that she hadn't heard every word they just said. "I fixed some damaged veins but there isn't anything more I can do, Mr. Malfoy. Your ear may be sore for a while, but it should feel fine in a day or two."

Scorpius thanked her and the five of them left the Hospital Wing and headed towards the Great Hall for lunch. They had intended to eat lunch at Hagrid's but, well, you know how that worked out. The boys made their way towards the Slytherin table while Rose and Lizzie sat with other girls at the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables.

Hagrid wasn't at the meal. Albus began to get worried and dragged them all to his hut immediately afterwards. Personally, Vincent thought he was overreacting. What could have possibly happened to him in the ten minute time period since they last saw him? But they had promised Hagrid that they would come by later, so he supposed it wasn't a big deal. Rose claimed that she had never seen Hagrid so angry before, and that she was glad that she wasn't Dennis.

"I'm _already_ glad that I'm not Dennis! Why would I want to look and act like a shaved gorilla that's been mistakenly raised by humans?" Vincent cried and everyone laughed.

"What are yeh laughin' at?" Hagrid asked as he swung open the door.

"Nothing," Albus said, grinning, and led his friends inside. Then he introduced them to Hagrid.

"Nice to meet yeh," Hagrid said, and his eyes lingered on Scorpius before turning away. "Do yeh want summat to eat?"

"No thanks. We just came from lunch," Rose said and sat down at the table. "What happened to Dennis, Hagrid?"

"Who? Oh, the rotten kid who put you three in the Hospital Wing? He's got a few months' detention, serves him right," Hagrid said.

Vincent, Scorpius, and Lizzie looked smug but Albus and Rose looked worried. And Vincent thought he had a good idea what they were worried about.

"Oh, come on, guys, lighten up. The teachers are going to keep an eye on Dennis to make sure he leaves us alone! I mean, he's got detention for Merlin's sake! Can't you at least _try_ to be happy about that!" Vincent cried, and Albus and Rose smiled.

Vincent may be loud and rude, obnoxious and insensitive, but he always knew how to make someone smile.


	6. Chapter 6

YEAR ONE

_Lizzie_

Lizzie loved holidays. But her favorite holiday of all was Valentine's Day. And this was the best Valentine's Day she had ever experienced because Luke Cunningham shyly asked her to be his girlfriend. It's not like The Sex God had proclaimed his undying love for her, but it was something. And Luke was _cute._

When first years date, it usually consists of holding hands in the hallway and an occasional peck on the cheek - or the lips, if they're lucky - and nothing more. But Lizzie had always considered herself to be very lucky and had gotten her first kiss only a week after she and Luke started dating. After it happened, Lizzie ran off to the library to tell Rose all about it and hopefully, make her jealous.

And it worked!

"You've already had your first kiss?" Rose asked, exasperated. "The only boy I've ever kissed is my dad! Oh, I'm _never_ going to get a boyfriend! I'm going to grow up to be a lonely, old cat lady, I just know it!"

"Don't fret, Rose. You're only eleven - there's plenty of time for you to find a boyfriend before you've purchased a single cat. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my wonderful _boyfriend!_" Then Lizzie skipped out of the library, and the other occupants of the library glared after her. This was why Rose hated taking Lizzie with to the library - she was so _loud._

Lizzie loved having a boyfriend, and not only to make other girls jealous - particularly girls named Debbie. The only boy that she had ever held hands with was Ray Fillard, a boy who lived on her block, and the two had a five-year-old 'romance', if you want to call it that. Ray's hands were sweaty and sometimes they even had boogers on them. Luke's hands were much manlier (and booger-free), and his kisses were much nicer than Ray's. Yes, she had kissed Ray but you can't really count a kiss you had when you were five, can you? Of course not. So, Luke was her first kiss. End of story.

Lizzie mentioned this to Rose but then she looked exasperated and sad all over again, and Lizzie guessed that Rose hadn't had any five-year-old romances. So she tried her best to not talk about Luke or Ray in front of Rose. After all, she was trying to make _other_ girls jealous, not Rose! Rose was her best friend.

Scorpius, Vincent, and The Sex God didn't care to hear about her "stupid boyfriend". Those were Vincent's words, not hers. Scorpius was much nicer about it, but she never spent much time with Scorpius anymore, because he reminded her so much of Luke that whenever she saw him, she ran off to see her Scorpius-look-alike boyfriend before he even had the chance to say hi. The Sex God never said much when she mentioned Luke. Lizzie suspected that he was jealous. One can only hope.

Perhaps The Sex God would accidentally catch Luke kissing her, and then he would get so jealous that he would challenge Luke to a duel and then two boys would be _fighting_ over her! Well, actually, dueling over her but still! She wondered which one would win... She knew who she _wanted_ to win, that's for sure!

"Did you hear that?" Rose's voice interrupted her fantasy.

"What?" he asked, still in a daze.

The two girls were walking down the hallway together, and Rose looked concerned. "Debbie just asked you if you were 'keeping your boyfriend on a short leash.'" Rose used air quotes around this part. "Why would she say that, Liz? Does he _need_ to be kept on a short leash?"

"Of course not!" Lizzie cried, appalled. "Why would you even ask that!"

"Okay, okay, I was just wondering! But aren't you at least a _little _worried about what Debbie said?"

Lizzie shrugged. "Why should I be? That girl is all bark and no bite. She won't do anything."

Rose still looked doubtful. "Are you sure?"

"I'm _positive._"

Rose still looked worried on their way to Charms, but Lizzie didn't fret over it. If Rose wanted to worry and stress over Debbie all day long, there was nothing Lizzie could say or do that would get her to stop, so Lizzie decided to cast away Rose's stupidness and took a seat next to her wonderful boyfriend when they arrived at the classroom.

They received news later that day that outshone the news of Lizzie having a boyfriend by a longshot - or at least that's how Vincent put it. Angela Rockford had cornered Scorpius in the common room to inform him that Henry McCormick had been kicked off the Slytherin Quidditch Team and that if Scorpius was still interested, he was on the team. Scorpius only barely got the words out before darting off to the Owlery to send a letter to his parents.

"It's going to be _so_ much fun with Scorpius on the team! Now if only Vincent would join..." Albus trailed off and the Puerto Rican boy glared at him.

"You know I hate Quidditch! And there aren't any open positions, anyway."

"But when there are..."

"_No,_ Albus!"

Lizzie and Rose were forced to listen to the two boys bicker all the way to the Great Hall, where it was time for lunch. Lizzie didn't know when The Sex God was going to finally stop pestering Vincent about Quidditch, but she hoped it was soon. The topic always made Vincent irritatable, and Vincent wasn't very pleasant to be around when he was irritated.

The four kids planned to bring Scorpius to Hagrid's later on so they could celebrate but apparently he had a run-in with James and Fred on the way back from the Owlery and didn't feel much like hanging out anymore.

"Oh, come on, Scorp, don't let those jerks get to you," Vincent said. Unlike Scorpius, Vincent had never had any problem telling Rose and The Sex God how much he dislikes their family members.

"I'm not letting them get to me," Scorpius snapped.

"Don't let my stupid cousins ruin this for you. You deserve to celebrate," Rose pushed. Lizzie suspected that Rose felt guilty about her cousins picking on Scorpius all the time.

"I'm going to my common room. I want to be alone."

Scorpius disappeared from view and Rose was pestering Lizzie's future husband the second he had gone.

"What is the matter with you? Why didn't you say anything to him?"

"I-I don't know!" The Sex God stammered, and Lizzie couldn't help but notice that he looked cute when he was nervous. But then she forced herself to stay focused.

"Why don't you ever tell them to stop?"

"Who?"

"You know bloody well who! Our darling cousins who seem to love making life difficult for your best mate!"

"Why don't _you_ tell them to stop?"

"I've tried, but they don't take me seriously!"

"Well, they'll take me even _less _seriously!"

"It's a good thing you weren't put in Gryffindor," Rose said, coolly. "You would have been a disgrace."

The Sex God looked stunned. "Did you just call me a coward?"

"I believe I did."

Rose was acting totally calm now but Lizzie had never seen her so angry. What was it that was making her so upset? Vincent seemed to be thinking the same thing for he got a huge grin on his face and said, "Why so upset, Rosie? Do you fancy Scorpius or something?"

The Sex God seemed relieved that the attention was pulled off of his cowardliness. Meanwhile, Rose was staring at Vincent like he had three heads. "Of course not. That's ridiculous."

"Then why are you so upset? Merlin, you seem angrier about it than Scorpius is."

"Oh, shut up," she snapped, and turned on her heel and stalked away.

"I can't believe she called me a coward," sulked Albus.

Vincent snorted. "Well, she wasn't wrong."

The two started to argue again so Lizzie excused herself - not that they heard her - and sought out her common room, hoping to find Luke.


	7. Chapter 7

YEAR ONE

_Rose_

February came to a close and March arrived, as did the nice weather. It was still bitterly cold outside and jackets were required, but all of the snow had melted. Rose was grateful for this - she hated snow with every fiber of her being.

She was thinking about snow when she entered her dormitory that evening, about how cold and wet and annoying it was. Her shoulder felt like it was about to collapse under pressure as her heavy schoolbag weighed it down. She was just about to collapse on the bed when she saw a neatly folded piece of paper on her pillow.

Rose put her schoolbag down and inspected the note. Neatly printed, in big bold letters was her name: **ROSE**. She opened it slowly and saw the same big, blocklike handwriting on the inside. The note read:

**PEACEFUL LOVE**

**.**

**THERE IS PEACE IN MY SOUL**

**FOR SUCH A LONG AWAITED TIME**

**THERE IS LOVE IN MY LIFE**

**A LOVE OF MELODY AND RHYME**

**.**

**ONCE YOU TOOK HOLD OF MY HEART**

**I KNEW NO OTHER COULD HAVE REACHED**

**AS WHISPERED FATE TOOK MY HAND**

**TO LEVELS ONLY YOU COULD REACH**

**.**

**YOU IN MY LIFE**

**WILL LIVE ETERNALLY**

**I KNEW THE FIRST NIGHT WE MET**

**YOU WERE MEANT FOR ME**

**.**

Then Rose realized that it wasn't a note. It was a _poem._ She read and re-read the poem, analyzed the handwriting, and tried every spell she knew to reveal invisible ink but nothing she tried worked. The person hadn't signed their name and there was no way of finding out who it was.

Frustrated as she was, Rose thought it was the most beautiful poem she had ever read. Or did she only think that because it was about her? _Is it, though?_ a voice in the back of her head whispered, but she pushed this voice away. Of course it was about her. It was on her bed. It had her _name_ on it.

As she put on her pajamas and crawled into bed, Rose went over possibilities of who the anonymous poet could be. She thought about every cute boy she had ever shared a class with or passed in the hallway. It was also possible that it was Vincent or Scorpius. Scorpius seemed more likely. He had told her that he wanted to be a writer, after all. _But a writer and a poet are two completely different things,_ she reminded herself. And Scorpius seemed much more able to put his feelings into words than Vincent was. And Rose seriously doubted that stubborn, rude, loud-mouthed Vincent could create something so beautiful. But even though it made partial sense, Rose just couldn't picture Scorpius writing her a poem.

There was also the dreadful possibility that the poet was Dennis. She really hoped it wasn't Dennis. Oh, who was she kidding? Dennis wasn't capable of writing something like this. The boy could barely spell his own name right.

There was an even more dreadful possibility that someone had written her this poem as a cruel joke. But who would do that? The answer came to her almost immediately. It would certainly explain all the smug looks that Debbie had been giving her in the hallway. But it just didn't add up. The handwriting was unrecognizable, but it definitely looked like a boy's. And besides, Debbie didn't know the Gryffindor password.

And neither did pretty much everyone else she had suspected. So that rules out Scorpius, Vincent, Dennis and cute boys from other Houses. Rose puzzled over this for hours before she finally tucked the poem into a secret pocket in her schoolbag and fell into an uneasy sleep.

The next day, Rose was keeping her eyes peeled for any boy that seemed to act strange around her, but everybody was perfectly normal. The boys in her House that said hi to her in the mornings said hi to her again just like normal. Neither Vincent nor Scorpius acted any differently (although Scorpius did seem to be stressed about his parents coming to watch him play in his first Quidditch match), and even Dennis was just as creepy and annoying as usual.

The suspense was going to kill her.

Rose really thought that if she didn't figure out who wrote her the poem soon, she would go mad. She was starting to obsess over it, until Lizzie announced her Crisis of the Week.

"That evil tramp was talking to my boyfriend in the hallway!" the brunette practically screamed as she came storming into the library. Only this time, Rose wasn't doing schoolwork. She was re-reading the poem over and over and over again with a list of possible boys who could have written it, and shoved these things out of sight the minute Lizzie sat down.

"Who was?" Rose asked.

"Do you know any _other_ evil tramps in this school?"

Of course. Debbie.

"What were they talking about?"

"Oh, I don't know. Debbie had a Transfiguration question or something because she's stupid and can't figure anything out for herself!" Lizzie spat, angrily. "I told Luke that I hate her guts and that he was never to speak to her again."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Don't you think that's a little controlling?"

"That's what Luke said! He said that I couldn't tell him who he could be friends with and not to speak to him again until I'm ready to apologize." Lizzie slumped down in her seat, almost in tears. "I hate her. I hate her so much."

Rose had never really taken Lizzie's relationship with Luke too seriously - they were eleven, for Merlin's sake! - but she hated to see her so upset. Rose sighed. "Just apologize to Luke, okay? And then _calmly_," she put extra emphasis on this word. "tell him everything that happened between you and Debbie, and why you don't trust her. Tell him that you were just looking out for him because she's a mean person. And _don't_ use the phrase 'evil tramp', either. Okay?"

Lizzie brightened. "Wow, Rose! That was good advice! Thanks!" Then she got up and darted out of the library.

"You really have to stop inviting her here," said an irritated fifth year, obviously studying for his O.W.L.s.

"Sorry."

**Xxx**

The next day was Saturday, the day of the Slytherin-Ravenclaw Quidditch match. Scorpius's parents would be arriving soon, which he made sure to remind them all every few minutes. Albus and Scorpius were both in their Quidditch robes at breakfast. Rose stopped worrying over the poem long enough to notice that Scorpius hadn't touched his breakfast. And he looked slightly green.

Rose kept expecting Scorpius's parents to burst through the door at the Great Hall and come marching up to Scorpius, but she didn't see them until the match was about to start. They were walking out to the Quidditch field with Professor McGonagall, directly in front of where Rose, Lizzie, and Vincent were walking. Even though she grew up with Albus and Hugo, who were the spitting images of their fathers, Rose was still amazed at how Scorpius and his dad looked almost exactly the same. He didn't seem to resemble his mother at all.

Rose, Lizzie, and Vincent sat with the Slytherins because that was the team they were hoping to win. Even though Lizzie was in Ravenclaw, she didn't care about Quidditch enough to root for her own House. She simply wanted her friends to win.

The game started with a blow of a whistle, and Scorpius looked slightly more confident than he had at breakfast but he still looked very nervous. She couldn't really blame him. Having your parents at your first Quidditch match must be nerve-wracking. Rose tried to imagine herself taking a test with her mother peering over her shoulder, telling her that she forgot to add _this_ and that if she wasn't careful, the Malfoy boy was going to beat her. Rose shuddered. The thought of Scorpius beating her at anything made her want to break something.

And people thought she wasn't competitive.

There was a burst of applause from the Slytherin end that made Rose turn her attention back to the game. Scorpius has just scored!

"That's his third goal in a row!" Vincent bellowed into her ear, and Rose noticed that the score was 40 - 10, and thirty of those points had been scored by Scorpius. Meanwhile, Albus was circling the field, keeping his eyes peeled for the Snitch. The Ravenclaw seeker was doing the same.

Rose had never realized how good Scorpius was at Quidditch. He was quick and agile, swerving in and out of the way of the opposite team's Chasers like it was nothing. He was only a first year but he threw the Quaffle so hard that it whipped past the Keeper's head like it was going forty miles an hour.

Angela - the Captain, who was also a Chaser - threw the Quaffle to a fourth year Chaser who dropped it. There was a groan from the Slytherin end as the Ravenclaw Chasers dove for it, but Scorpius scooped the Quaffle out from under him and took off toward the goalposts so fast that the Ravenclaws had no idea what happened.

Rose glanced up to see how Albus was doing, and just in time too. He dove downward with his hand outstretched, and she started screaming. Everyone else quickly caught on what was happening - the last person was the Ravenclaw Seeker who sped after Albus in a panic. The Snitch was inches away from Albus's fingertips and Rose held her breath as they got closer and closer - only to be yanked out of reach. The Ravenclaw Seeker had grabbed onto the back of Albus's broomstick and yanked it backwards, using it to propel himself forward. Cries of outrage came from the Slytherin end as the Ravenclaw Seeker held up the Snitch.

The end score was 100 - 170. Scorpius had scored a majority of the points, and looked pleased with himself even though Slytherin lost. Albus, on the other hand, looked ready to spit fire. Vincent ran to catch up with him but Rose and Lizzie lagged behind. They passed by Scorpius and his parents on the way, and Rose caught snippets of their conversation:

Scorpius's mother said something along the lines of, "You did great, sweetie!" and Rose only caught the end of his father's sentence: " - never lost to Ravenclaw when I was in school..." followed by Scorpius crying out, "Dad!" Rose thought she heard him chuckle and say, "Sorry, Scorp," but she wasn't sure.

When Rose and Lizzie finally caugh up, Albus and Vincent were complaining about Madame Veeravalli for not counting what the Ravenclaw Seeker did as a foul. "They used to count it when my dad was at school!" cried Albus, fuming. "She said what he did 'wasn't foul play' and he 'did whatever he had to do to get the Snitch'. What match was she watching? That arsehole cheated Slytherin out of a win!"

"Madame V. is a little out of her prime, if you ask me. Old bat is probably going blind," said Vincent.

"She probably just favors Ravenclaw because she used to be in that House," huffed Albus.

"Madame Veeravalli was in Gryffindor," Lizzie pointed out, but the boys ignored her.

Rose never really paid attention to it before but Albus and Vincent seem to ignore Lizzie a lot. She had never noticed it before, but Scorpius and herself were the only two out of the group that treated Lizzie decently. It never seemed like it bothered her, but for a split second Lizzie looked upset that the boys - particularly Albus - didn't care about what she had to say.

"Hey, morons!" Rose cried out, and Albus and Vincent stopped their heated discussion to look at her. "Lizzie was talking to you. Didn't you hear her?"

"No, sorry. What did you say, Liz?" asked Albus, and Lizzie blushed.

"I said Madame Veeravalli was in Gryffindor, not Ravenclaw."

"Well, that explains it then! All Gryffindors hate all Slytherins! It's a known fact!" cried Vincent, and Rose rolled her eyes.

"What about me, genius? I'm in Gryffindor."

"So?"

"_So,_ I'm in Gryffindor and I don't hate all Slytherins!"

Lizzie and Albus shared a glance, and walked back to the castle together, leaving Rose and Vincent behind to argue. They were still arguing by the time Scorpius approached them, and even he wasn't able to get them to stop bickering.

Vincent made her so angry at times. Sometimes she wondered why she even bothered being friends with his sorry arse.

But while they were arguing, Rose thought about something her mum had said to her once: _"If a boy picks on you, that just means he likes you."_ Could it be...? No, it wasn't possible. Even the _thought_ that Vincent was the one who had written her that poem was utterly ridiculous. Wasn't it?


	8. Chapter 8

YEAR ONE

_Vincent_

Most of the time, Vincent got along great with Rose Weasley but sometimes he just couldn't stand her. When he and Rose got into one of their little arguments, Vincent would spend the whole day complaining about how much of a bitch she was. Albus and Scorpius would always jump to her defense, which annoyed him to no end. But he knows that he should know better than to say bad things about her in front of her cousin and the boy that fancies her. But Vincent wasn't particularly gifted in the common sense area, so he didn't stop.

Vincent couldn't stand a lot of people. Like Dennis, for example. And James Potter. And Rose Weasley - sometimes. But there was one kid that really took the cake and his name was Tyler Lincoln. Tyler was a black boy in his year, also in Slytherin. Tyler was also a racist asshole, which was weird since he was black. But Vincent supposed that black people could be racist too.

And how did Vincent know he was racist? Because every day when Vincent would walk into every class, Tyler would nod at him and say, "Hey, spic," and then turn back around in his seat. The first time it happened, Vincent thought he had misheard him. "What did you say?" he asked, and Tyler turned around again. "I called you a spic. Didn't you hear me? God, you people never listen."

Vincent didn't know what to say after that, so he went to seek advice from Scorpius for two reasons. One, because Scorpius knew what it was like to have people constantly call you names and two, because Scrorpius always gives great advice. Scorpius told him what his father had told _him_ before he got on the Hogwarts Express eight months ago: "The kids at school are going to treat you a little differently, but you are a Malfoy. You are a fighter. Just keep your head held high to show them how strong you are. Always remember to be proud of who you are and where you come from." Vincent could tell that Scorpius took those words to heart, and probably remembered them when the other kids' bullying became too much so he vowed to do exactly the same thing. He had always thouht Scorpius's father looked a bit intimidating - especially after what happened during the Hogwarts Battle - but if Vincent had a father, he would want his dad to say something like that to him and from then on, he had a certain respect for Mr. Malfoy.

And that had kept him going for eight months. Now, Vincent understood that it was just a word. And that Scorpius and Albus called him that all the time, but they were his friends. They were just joking. However, Tyler was _not_ his friend and he was _not_ joking. And that made him madder than anything.

It happened about a week after April Fool's Day. Vincent was already in a bad mood by the time he got to Potions after having to listen to Lizzie whine about how Debbie was _still_ flirting with her boyfriend all afternoon. He could still hear her whispering her crisis to Scorpius while the professor was speaking, catching phrases like, " - ruining my life - ", " - talking advantage of his kindness. _Charity_ is more like it - ", and " - she is _stealing my man!_" Honestly, sometimes he just wanted to put a Tongue-Tying Curse on that girl and make it very, very permanent. And to make his day worse (as if it could get any worse) Albus was in the Hospital Wing after vomiting in Transfiguration. Vincent tried to convince Albus to stop being a baby and come to Potions anyway, but to no avail. Albus told him he was being a selfish arsehole and then Madame Pomfrey shooed him away from her patient.

Now he was stuck in Potions with Tyler frickin' Lincoln as his partner. Why, out of everyone else in the class, did Professor Hillard have to pair him up with that racist prat? Vincent could hear Scorpius giving Lizzie advice under his breath (so the professor wouldn't ask why they were discussing something other than potions) and he couldn't help but roll his eyes. Why Scorpius put up with her, he would never know.

"Oi! Pay attention, will you? You just added the wrong amount of porcupine quills, you dirty - " Vincent clamped his hands over his ears to prevent from hearing the word again. Tyler saw this and laughed in his face. "What's the matter, Mendoza? Does that word _bother_ you?"

Vincent tried to remember the advice that was meant for Scorpius, but had also helped him out as well. But all he could remember was something his mother had told him a long time ago, when he was just a little kid and had asked what a certain word was. "That's a very bad word, Vincent," she had said, her pretty features twisted with worry. "and you shouldn't ever use it. No matter how mad you get at a black person, you should _never_ call them this. Do you understand?" At the time, he had nodded his little head and said, "Yes, Mummy," but now all Vincent could think of was that word, the word that he wanted to use so very badly.

So he did.

"Shut up, Tyler, you stupid - " He said it. The N word. He had never said it before and now he _had._ Now Vincent wasn't racist but seeing the look on Tyler's face when it rolled off his tongue filled him with immense satisfaction, simply because the little bastard had _deserved_ it. Vincent had used the N word and his mother would never find out about it.

Wrong.

Because at that moment, the entire class had gone silent and _everybody_ had heard what he had just called Tyler. Scorpius and Lizzie were staring at him, dumbfounded. Everyone else was simply staring at him. Professor Hillard had grabbed his arm and dragged him up to the headmistress's office straight away, his grip unbearably tight. Professor McGonagall was just as furious as Professor Hillard, possibly even more so. She insisted that such dirty words had no place in her school, especially coming from a _first year_, even though Vincent tried to tell her that Tyler had called him a word just as offensive every day since the beginning of the year. But she wouldn't listen. She gave him detentions every Saturday for the rest of the year and wrote to his mother.

The detentions he could deal with, but why did Professor McGonagall insist on informing his mother about what a dirty potty mouth her son was? The next morning at breakfast, Vincent was trying to ignore Tyler's smirks while he waited for his mother's Howler but it never came. Instead, he received a letter from her stating how disappointed she was in him and how shocked she had been when she read about how rude her son was. Vincent sulked all day, something that his friends didn't understand. "Aren't you glad that you didn't get a Howler?" they kept asking, but he actually would have preferred the Howler over his mother's disappointment.

Vincent's scumbag father had left them when he was two, and his mum had been forced to play both the roles in his and Marcus's life, as well as work three jobs to support her two sons. She was constantly telling her boys how much she loved them, how proud they made her, and how they were her everything. Marcus was always embarrassed by such words and always rolled his eyes at her, muttering something along the lines of, "Cut it out, Mum, I know." But Vincent always soaked up the compliments. He always told himself that it was because he wasn't used to receiving positive feedback - most wizards looked at their lifestyle and called them trash - but he knew that he simply liked the attention from his mother because, well, he was a mama's boy.

Not that he would ever admit it.

Like most mothers, Vincent's mum considered him her youngest son, her baby boy, the one that she never wanted to grow up. Vincent was the one she never wanted to let go of. At the train station, when Marcus had run off to meet his friends without even telling his mum goodbye, Vincent's mum pulled him into one of her bear hugs, hugging him to her chest.

"Mum...I can't...breathe!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, baby!" She released him and gave him a few seconds to push air back into his lungs before she continued speaking. "I'm just going to miss you and your brother _so_ much. I can't believe it, my baby boy is off to Hogwarts already..." Her eyes filled up with tears, and then she quickly swiped them away. "Who is going to keep me company at home now that you're gone?"

"Aw, Mum, Christmas is only a few months away. Me and Marcus will be back home in no time!"

"Marcus and I," she corrected him.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Make sure you write to me every single week, alright?"

"With what owl?" huffed Vincent. He understood that they were poor, but he was still angry that she hadn't been able to buy him an owl.

"Don't you worry about that, Hogwarts will supply owls for you to use." The train's whistle went off, signaling that it was leaving the station in a few minutes. "Oh! You'd better hurry!" his mum cried, and handed him his trunk, and then hugged him one last time. "You'll love Hogwarts, I'm sure of it. I'm so excited for Christmastime, so you can tell me all about the friends you've made. Make me proud, baby."

"Okay, Mum, I will," he said and then he had hurried onto the Hogwarts Express, his heart sinking lower each time someone wouldn't let him sit in their compartment. _What if I don't make any friends?_ he had thought, his stomach making a sickening jolt at the thought of it. Luckily, he had met Scorpius minutes later, who had been worried about the same exact thing.

And now his mother had just learned that her precious baby boy was not making her proud at all, but instead 'using racial slurs' and 'being a bully'. Or that was the way his mum had put it.

Vincent told Scorpius about his problem, and the blonde had advised him to write her back to tell her what happened from _his_ perspective. And if she still didn't believe him, he could do all sorts of favors for her and give her lots of compliments over the summer, to earn brownie points.

This was why Vincent loved Scorpius. He always had all the answers, he always listened when he wanted to talk, and when Vincent told him _not to tell anybody,_ he didn't tell anybody. Most kids thought Scorpius was destined to be evil because of his family, but Vincent admired him. Most kids hated Scorpius, but Vincent wanted to _be_ Scorpius.

While Vincent was thinking about this, he was sitting under the big tree by the lake with his friends, including Lizzie. Why was that? A month ago, they hardly ever saw the girl because she was always rushing off to see that boyfriend of hers. Now, they couldn't get rid of her. If she never spent time with her boyfriend anymore, no wonder he's letting Debbie cozy up to him.

Lizzie isn't saying anything about her boyfriend, but Vincent could tell that she wante to. She probably figured that she had complained enough that her friends had started to get annoyed - and she was 110% _right._ In Vincent's case, anyway.

"Are you okay, Vincent?" Albus's voice broke through his thoughts.

"I'm fine, dill weed," Vincent snapped.

"Sorry, you were just being quiet..."

Vincent was irritated. Can't he be a little quiet without everyone jumping down his throat and assuming that everything was wrong? Of course not. Vincent was never quiet, he was always loud and when he wasn't loud he was _very_ loud. So, he couldn't exactly blame Albus for thinking that 'Vincent being quiet' equals 'something is wrong'.

But still. Whenever Rose was quiet, everyone assumed she was deep in thought. Vincent was just as capable of being _deep in thought_ as that know-it-all was! His grades weren't so hot. So what? That doesn't mean that he was _stupid,_ it simply meant that he was _lazy._ Or maybe he was both? He didn't know.

That arsehole, Tyler smirked at him in the hallway as he was walking to his first detention on Saturday night and Vincent made a mental note to put Tyler on his _Revenge List._ Once you got on Vincent's _Revenge List,_ there was no going back. You would be on the list until you got your comeuppance, even if Vincent had forgiven you for whatever you had done to get on that list.

For example, as Vincent was growing up, he had been fat. His mum liked to say he had been just a _little_ overweight and his eating habits had gotten a _little_ out of hand, but Vincent knew he had been a butterball. Vincent's mother couldn't afford a tutor growing up and she didn't have time to teach them herself, so she sent Marcus and Vincent to Muggle elementary school.

Muggle school had been hell for Vincent. The Muggle kids made fun of him for being fat, which made him so insecure that he ate even _more_ food, which made him even fatter. Thinking back, Vincent wondered how he even got his hands on so much food when he had been dirt poor all his life. Well, Vincent was a perfect example of if you want something, you make sure you get it.

Anyway, when Vincent was eight he weighed over 120 pounds. He had a double chin, countless rolls on his large stomach, and his pants size was larger than Marcus's. There was a certain boy in Vincent's class named Patrick Linkowski who had teased Vincent mercilessly every day since first grade. The list of mean names that Patrick had for him seemed endless: lardass, fat boy, wide load, Fat Vincent, blimp, The Incredible Bulk. The list would go on and on. Then one day, when Vincent was at the park with Marcus, Patrick and a group of his friends were riding by on their bikes. At first it seemed like the group of boys had not noticed them, but Vincent had been foolish. He had been _huge_ - he was impossible to miss.

The two boys had gone to sit on the swings, Vincent trying not to think about how the swing had creaked under his weight, when he heard the boys on their bikes shouting something at him: "MOOOOOOOOO!" Vincent hoped and prayed that Marcus hadn't heard them but, of course, he had. Then, his big brother had offered to go kick Patrick's ass. Vincent wanted Marcus to make Patrick pay so badly, more than he had ever wanted anything, but he declined the offer.

Because it was time to stand up for himself.

Vincent stomped up to Patrick and his friends (they shouted, "BOOM-BADA-BOOM-BADA-BOOM!" as he did this) and got right into Patrick's face, asking him what his problem was, proclaiming that he was just a scared little boy hiding behind his insults, and telling him that if he was going to say something bad about him, to say it to his _face_ and not behind his _back._ He had been so proud of himself, but Patrick just laughed in his face.

Patrick called him fat and disgusting and ugly, and said he hated him and always would, saying that he would never amount to _anything._ It was at that moment that Patrick was the first ever person to get put on the _Revenge List._ To this day, Vincent is still thinking of the perfect moment to get his revenge on that prat.

Vincent went home that day and told his mum to only buy healthy food from now on because he was going on a diet. His mother had supported him from Day 1, and even put Marcus and herself on the same diet as Vincent, and he had lost fifty-five pounds by the time he entered the fourth grade. He couldn't remember ever feeling so happy. He finally weighed seventy two pounds - that was _average_ for his age! Vincent supposed that Patrick had actually done something good with all of his insults, but once you're on the _Revenge List,_ you can never get off. It's like signing a deal with the devil.

"Vincent? You're being quiet again. Are you okay, mate?" Scorpius asked him, his thoughts getting interrupted _again._

"I'm just deep in thought! God, can't a guy think in _peace_ around here!"

**A/N: Hey, everyone! Sorry it's been so long. Hopefully a couple long chapters will make up for my absence! To be honest, I was pretty nervous about uploading this chapter because of all the racial slurs but there's a lot in here about Vincent's back story so it's pretty important. I can assure you, I am NOT racist and if I offended you at all, I'm SO sorry. This might not even be a big deal to some of you, but I guess I'm just being paranoid. Again, if I offended you I didn't mean for that to happen and I'm sorry.**

**-Rachel**

**P.S. Those two words are words that I have never said and never will. They're in this chapter because, well, Vincent isn't me.**


	9. Chapter 9

YEAR ONE

_Scorpius_

Beautiful May weather was waiting for him outside, but instead Scorpius Malfoy was stuck in the library.

It seemed that all of his friends' lives were falling to ruins around him. Vincent still had detention every Saturday night, detentions that had extended into next year ever since he got into a fist fight with Tyler Lincoln in the hallway last weekend. Lizzie's boyfriend had dumped her...for _Debbie._ It was safe to say that Lizzie was a wreck. She had re-attached herself onto Albus, once again convinced that they were going to get married. This caused Albus a whole new set of problems. And Rose had been acting strange lately. Her mind always seemed to be on something else, and Scorpius had almost beaten her on their Transfiguration essay earlier that week, only getting one mark lower than her.

_This_ was why he was in the library on a perfectly sunny Tuesday afternoon. Rose was one of his best friends and he was curious as to why she was acting strange, but he hoped she acted strange for a few more days so he could finally beat her in their Potions essay.

"Scorpius? Are you in here?" Rose's voice rang out and Scorpius put the finishing touches on his essay before answering her. Rose joined him at a small table in the back of the library. He had moved to this table to avoid Dennis, who had come storming into the library earlier that day in a _very_ bad mood. Scorpius heard him mutter something about Debbie ad was starting to think that Lizzie wasn't the only one feeling angry and betrayed by Luke and Debbie's relationship.

When Scorpius told Rose all of this, she said, "I thought Dennis fancied me! Not that I wouldn't be glad to be rid of him..."

"You can fancy more than one person," Scorpius pointed out but Rose only shrugged. She was starting to act strange again. Just as Scorpius was about to ask her what was wrong, she whipped a piece of paper out and waved it in front of his face.

"Have you ever seen this before?" she demanded to know.

"What is it?" he asked.

Rose stopped shaking it and held the paper in front of his face long enough for him to read it. It was a beautifully written poem written in neat, block-like handwriting. The paper it was written on looked nice and expensive, and even smelled of perfume. "That's very good, Rose. Did you write this?" he asked, knowing perfectly well that she didn't write it.

"No. Someone left it on my pillow a few months ago but they didn't sign their name. Do you have any idea who it might be?" Rose looked hopeful as he opened his mouth to speak. So hopeful, in fact, that he felt sorry for disappointing her.

"No, sorry. I've never seen that poem before in my life. Although, it is quite good," he said nonchalantly.

Rose didn't bother hiding the disappointed look on her face. "Are you sure you didn't see someone else writing it? No one showed it to you?"

"Besides you, no."

"Oh." Rose was quiet as she re-read the poem again.

"Don't dwell on it, Rosie. I'm sure the person who wrote it will step up to take the credit eventually."

"I suppose you're right. Why stress over it?"

"Exactly."

"The important thing is, someone took time out of their day to write me a poem. The fact that it's anonymous doesn't matter at all."

"Right."

Rose seemed to be satisfied and put the poem in her bag. "Oh yeah, Scorp? Don't mention this to anyone, okay? I want it to be kept a secret for a little while longer."

"Sure."

They say in silence for a while, the only sound being Scorpius's quill scratching on the parchment and the ocassional rustle as he turned the page in his copy of _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1_. Rose broke the silence by bringing up the poem again. Scorpius was about to tell her to stop obsessing over it but was shocked to silence when a name came up that he was sure would never be in the same sentence as 'poem': Vincent's.

Scorpius snorted with laughter. "You think _Vincent_ wrote that? No way!"

"Okay, so Vincent isn't exactly poetic but it's _possible_ - " Scorpius cut her off.

"It's not just that! Vincent isn't smart or creative or impulsive enough to write something like this! Don't even get me _started_ on the kid's spelling! Did you know he spelled his own last name wrong once?"

Rose seemed reluctant to believe him. "He did not."

"I swear on my mother's grave!"

"Scorpius, your mother is alive!"

"Well, if she does die. You know, God forbid."

"_If?_ Don't you mean when?"

"I don't like to think like that," admitted Scorpius. He thought about losing one of his parents and it made his insides shrivel up.

They sat in silence for a while longer as Scorpius finished up his homework. Rose had just as much homework as he did and he was sure she hadn't even started any of it. She was still staring at the poem, probably thinking about -

Then it hit him.

"Merlin's pants!" Scorpius cried, causing both Rose and the librarian to stare at him in alarm. He lowered his voice so only Rose could hear him. "You fancy Vincent! That's why you keep insisting that he wrote the poem! Not because you think he wrote it, but because you _want_ the writer to be him!" After Scorpius was done with his laughing fit, a feeling of disgust washed over him. "Oh God. You fancy _Vincent._"

"I do _not!_" Rose snapped but she had turned a shade of red to match her hair.

Suddenly feeling very sour, Scorpius excused himself from the library and left Rose by herself with only her stupid poem. He _knew_ that Vincent had not written that poem, no matter what Rose chose to believe. It wasn't fair for Vincent to take credit of someone else's work, even if he didn't know it. Not ready to face Vincent just yet, Scorpius put his things in his dormitory and went to find Lizzie.

Only Lizzie was attached to Albus, who was with Vincent. Just his luck.

"Hey, mate. Where have you been?" Vincent asked as Scorpius joined them under their tree by the lake. Scorpius ignored him.

"Hey, Liz. How are you holding up?" Scorpius asked gently, careful not to set off the bomb of emotions that was Lizzie Silver.

"Not so good," she admitted, sniffing. She pointed to the front doors, where Luke and Debbie had just walked out of, holding hands and laughing. Debbie caught sight of Lizzie and sent a nasty smile in her direction before turning her attention back to Luke. This was too much for Lizzie - she burst into tears.

"Oh, here we go again," grumbled Vincent. Scorpius had to fight the urge to punch him in the nose as he comforted his crying friend.

"It's okay, Lizzie. You can do better," he said, patting her on the back while she sobbed on his shoulder.

"It's not - just - that!" she choked out through her sobs. "Debbie - _stole_ - him! She won - and - and I lost!"

"That's a stupid thing to worry about," Vincent scoffed and when both Albus and Scorpius shot him dirty looks, he hastened to explain himself: "I mean, we have seven more years with Debbie, right? That gives us plenty of time to get her back for this. She did _not_ lose."

Lizzie sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Thanks," she whispered, gratefully. Somehow, Vincent's words managed to cheer her up and the four of them managed to have a good time all afternoon, despite Luke and Debbie flaunting their relationship in front of Lizzie the entire time. They finally went inside for their afternoon lessons and when Lizzie departed to go meet Rose for History of Magic, Albus questioned Vincent about Lizzie: "That was pretty quick thinking back there, but I don't get it. Since when do you care about Lizzie?"

If looks could kill, Albus would have been dead on the spot. "Lizzie is my friend, arsehole. I've _always_ cared about her. I just don't like seeing girls cry, so I decided to step in." He marched ahead of the two of them, calling over his shoulder, "Besides, I can't stand the thought of Lizzie thinking that Debbie beat us, because that's just ridiculous."

Albus stared after him. "I wonder what got into him," he said, but Scorpius never got a chance to answer because Dennis had chosen that moment to come barreling down the hallway, knocking both boys off their feet.

"Watch where you're going, losers!" he snarled, shoving them back to the ground as they tried to get up, and then stomping off in the other direction.

But Dennis didn't get very far.

"What the hell was that?" a voice that Scorpius knew so well asked.

"N-nothing, man," Dennis stammered, sounding frightened.

Albus and Scorpius scrambled to their feet and saw a menacing boy in his fourth year towering over Dennis. The boy had muscles that Dennis could only dream of having, not to mention he was bigger and taller. But only Scorpius knew that the boy's outer appearance meant nothing, that the boy was actually cool and funny. The boy was like a big brother to him.

"I think you need to apologize to my friend over there," the boy said, gesturing to Scorpius and both Albus and Dennis stared at him with a bug-eyed expression that clearly read: _You _know_ this guy!_

"Sorry, Malfoy," grumbled Dennis. He looked scared, but he also looked like he had just sucked on a lemon. Dennis probably would have preferred the lemon than having to apologize to anyone, let alone Scorpius.

"Alright, good," the boy clapped Dennis on the shoulder, and it made his knees buckle. "You can go now. But if you bother these boys again, you'll have to answer to me. Understand?"

"Yeah," was all Dennis said before shooting Scorpius and Albus a dirty look and then scampering off in the other direction.

Albus began to laugh. "Look at him run!"

Scorpius was too busy grinning at his friend. "Thanks, Max."

"No problem, Scorp," the boy, named Max Goyle, replied. Scorpius's and Max's father had been friends in their school days and still hung out every once in a while, so Scorpius and Max practically grew up together. Along with Shanna Zabini - a third year - the daughter of another one of his dad's friends. Those two and his German Shephard, Samantha, were the reasons that he didn't grow up _too_ lonely, and he was extremely grateful for all three of them. "If that guy ever bothers you again, let me know, alright?"

Scorpius nodded and then he and Albus, and Max went in seperate directions to get to the class that they were already late for. Now that he thought about it, going to Max for protection from Dennis seemed like the most obvious thing to do and he wondered why he hadn't thought of it before. He might even be able to get Max to shield him from James Potter's humiliating pranks - Max hated the Potters. This was probably the reason why he hadn't asked Dennis to apologize to Albus too.

Vincent looked at them in bewilderment as they arrived late for Defense Against the Dark Arts and Scorpius explained in a whisper what had happened, completely forgetting that he was supposed to be angry at him.


	10. Chapter 10

YEAR ONE

_Albus_

Albus would have liked nothing more than to spend his last month at Hogwarts roaming the grounds with his friends, lounging under their tree, perhaps going to Hagrid's. He just wanted to enjoy the nice weather! But his professors had other plans: end-of-year exams. He, Vincent, and The Nightmare were studying for their exams in an empty classroom after Scorpius and Rose had kicked them out of the library for being loud and distracting.

"I can't believe they kicked us out!" The Nightmare huffed. "It's not like they _own_ the library!"

Albus silently agreed but didn't dare tell her that. He didn't think he could stand it if The Nightmare went into another rant about their wedding. Vincent, however, didn't seem bothered at all y Scorpius and Rose's actions. In fact, he snickered. "They probably just wanted us to leave so they could be _alooone!_"

"Ooh, do you really think so?" squealed The Nightmare, immediately abandoning her books at the faintest mention of gossip.

Any other member of the Potter-Weasley clan would have been alarmed for someone to mention that their Rosie was off with a scumbag like Malfoy, but Albus knew his friends too well. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that their marks on the end-of-year exams meant much more to them than snogging.

The three of them didn't get much studying done that day. Vincent and The Nightmare went to go spy on Scorpius and Rose, and after Albus found out that studying by yourself is incredibly boring, went to go join them. Their two brilliant friends quickly found out what they were doing and angrily kicked them out of the library _again._ This cycle repeated endlessly over the next few weeks.

Finally, exams came and went (Rose's marks are the top of the class, Scorpius's are second). Albus thought he did fairly well, but not nearly as good as his cousin and best mate. But he could live with that. At least he did better than Vincent.

He was amazed at how quickly the school year had gone by. It seemed like just yesterday that he was worried about being put in Slytherin, a House that he had come to find out wasn't so bad. While The Nightmare was still just that, a nightmare, she had begun to mellow out with her obsession with him (although, not by much) and they had actually become friends. Before long, the five of them were on the Hogwarts Express back home.

"I can't believe it. Another year - gone," The Nightmare said, dramatically.

"_Another?_ You've only been here one year, Liz," Scorpius pointed out.

"Oh, shut up. You know what I meant."

The five of them played a few games of Exploding Snap and, when the trolley came, traded Chocolate Cards. He was having such a good time and when the train pulled into the station, Albus felt like the last day had come much too soon. He wasn't ready to leave yet.

"You'll write, won't you?" he asked Scorpius and Vincent as they grabbed their trunks and got off the train.

"Of course," replied Scorpius.

"I dunno. I suppose I could borrow someone's owl, if it comes down to it," Vincent said with a shrug.

"Good." The three boys bid each other goodbye and then went off to meet their parents. Albus went to meet Rose by their parents, but found that The Nightmare was there as well, proudly introducing herself to his mum and dad. James, Lily and Hugo were snickering at him, and Rose was trying very hard not to laugh.

"Er - Lizzie? I think your parents are waiting for you," Albus said, desperately trying to get her to go away.

"Oh! Well, goodbye then! I'll see you all next year, I suppose." She turned to Harry and Ginny. "I think you'll be seeing a lot more of me!" She winked and skipped in the other direction, her bright pink trunks banging into people as she moved. Albus groaned.

"She is such a nightmare!"

"She wouldn't be Lizzie if she didn't embarrass you," Rose teased and there was some truth behind her words.

Ignoring his family's teasing remarks, he looked around to see all of his friends with their families. Rose was being welcomed back by her parents and hugging Hugo, and it seemed like she actually missed him. Scorpius was playing with a German Shephard while his parents watched, fondly. When Scorpius saw him looking, he waved and Albus waved back. Vincent was being hugged very tightly by a gorgeous woman who Albus assumed was his mother and made a mental note to ask his friend why he never mentioned that his mum was a babe. The Nightmare was talking animatedly to her Muggle parents, who looked very out of place here, and a young girl who must be her younger sister.

It was so hard to believe that he wouldn't see any of them again - besides Rose - for two whole months. That he wouldn't see _Hogwarts_ for another two months. As his family started to leave the station, Albus felt a strong desire to hop back on the train and go back to Hogwarts.

**A/N: That's it for their first year! Year two is on its way, don't worry! Are you guys as excited as I am!(:**

**-Rachel**


	11. Chapter 11

YEAR TWO

_Vincent_

Vincent had never been more glad to go back to Hogwarts. Nothing particularly bad had happened at home, his summer was just boring. He was eager for some excitement. Albus and Scorpius came over at the beginning of August to celebrate his twelfth birthday, but other than that, he had not seen his friends - besides their letters - since June. Right now, Vincent was waiting for his mother to quit squeezing the life out of his brother so he could get his turn at a hug before he met his friends on the Hogwarts Express.

"Yes, Mum, I'll miss you too. Can I go now?" his fourteen-year-old brother, Marcus, grumbled as his mother finally released him.

"Hold on just a minute! I need you to help your brother get all of his trunks onto the train. He nearly missed it last time because you abandoned him!" she cried, and Marcus muttered angrily to himself as she pulled Vincent into a hug. "You be good now, you hear? I don't want to receive any more letters about you using bad language or getting into fights," Vincent's mum whispered into his ear.

"That ruddy Tyler Lincoln provoked me!" cried Vincent, outraged.

"I don't care. You know better than that," she said, shaking her head at his outburst. "Now, Marcus, here is Vincent's trunk - don't lose it! - and watch out for him on the train! Make sure he doesn't get into trouble!"

"Mum, I don't need a babysitter!" complained Vincent, but she merely smiled at him and kissed his forehead.

"You just keep hanging out with those delightful friends of yours and I'm sure you'll be just fine. Make sure you let them know they're welcome to come over anytime they like!" his mother cried, beaming.

The whistle on the train blared and the two boys each got one more kiss from their mother before hurrying onto the train.

"Okay, where are your stupid friends?" asked Marcus, referring to Albus and Scorpius.

"You weren't calling them stupid when they spent the night a few weeks ago. I seem to remember you calling them 'cool' and that I was 'lucky to have them as friends'," Vincent reminded him with a smirk.

"I only said that because they're famous!" Marcus cried, but Vincent knew he was lying. Soon enough, Vincent found the compartment with two boys - one with jet black hair and emerald green eyes, the other with sleek blonde hair and a pointed chin - and two girls - one a redhead, deeply immersed in a book, and one a brunette, with bright pink suitcases.

Vincent had never been more glad to see any of them as he plopped down in between Albus and Scorpius, shoving his trunk onto the floor as Marcus disappeared from view. It seemed like the other four had felt the same as the trip to Hogwarts seem to fly by with questions like, "How are you?" and "Did you have a good summer?" along with the stories that followed them.

They rode the carriages (that seemed to pull themselves) up to the castle, watched the Sorting, and ate their marvelous feast in what seemed like no time. It wasn't until Vincent was gazing, sleepily, at the top of his four-poster bed that night that he realized they hadn't received one push, snide remark, or any contact at all from Dennis. Smirking, Dennis thought that Scorpius's friend Max must have really frightened Dennis into leaving them alone. Speaking of Scorpius, the blonde's loud snores were keeping him up and Vincent sat up and chucked a pillow at his head.

He didn't even stir.

**Xxx**

So far, second year won over first year hands down. In the few weeks they had been back, Vincent couldn't think of a time when he had ever been happier. Dennis was leaving them alone, his grades were improving, and none of his friends were arguing...over anything. Even Rose and Lizzie seemed less irritating than usual.

A part of him felt that it was too good to be true. Life had been so good lately...when was the bad thing going to happen? When was the drama going to start? That thought wasn't helping his mood at all, so he always pushed it away. He was just being stupid. Nothing bad was going to happen.

He was still convinced of this when Mr. Potter showed up in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class one afternoon, looking grave. Albus had mentioned that his dad sometimes came to Hogwarts to give DADA lectures, and Vincent figured that this was simply what was happening. But both Albus and the professor seemed shocked by Mr. Potter's appearance. This unnerved Vincent a little. What was he doing here?

When Mr. Potter requested to see Vincent privately in the hall, he started to panic. Was he in trouble? His mind whirling, Vincent followed Mr. Potter into the hallway, surprised to see Marcus there as well.

"What's this about?" asked Marcus.

Vincent did not like the look on Mr. Potter's face. He looked like he was about to deliver terrible news. Vincent didn't know a lot about what was going on but he did know one thing - whatever Mr. Potter was there to tell him, he didn't want to hear it.

"Boys, I'm terribly sorry to have to tell you this, but there's been a terrible accident..." Mr. Potter then proceeded to tell them that while their mother had been shopping in Diagon Alley, she had accidentally gotten in the middle of a duel between an Auror and a dark wizard and -

"She's dead?" asked Marcus. Mr. Potter nodded.

Vincent felt like he couldn't breathe. She couldn't be dead. She just couldn't be. Nothing bad could ever happen to her. Not his mother... "You're lying. She's not dead. She's fine."

"Vincent..." Mr. Potter reached out to touch his shoulder, but Vincent wrenched away.

"Don't touch me! She's not dead! You're lying! No, no, no!" And then Vincent did the only thing he could think of. He turned around and ran.

But he didn't get very far.

He bumped into Professor McGonagall in the next corridor and she brought him back to where Mr. Potter and Marcus were standing. Marcus was crying. Vincent and his older brother were brought to their grandparent's house that night, where their granddad kindly explained how their mother had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time and that she had loved them very much and that the two of them would be staying with him and their grandma from now on.

Marcus kept sobbing and looking miserable through the whole thing. Vincent just sat there, convinced that this wasn't real, that it wasn't really happening. It finally hit him that his mother was dead and his whole world was changing that night in bed when Marcus stopped crying and told him that they both had to be strong.

He excused himself from their new bedroom to go get some tea and then he started to think about how his mum would never drink tea again.

She would never hug him again, she would never make him lunch again, she would never tell him she was proud of him again. Because she was dead.

Vincent's heart clenched and he felt sick. Suddenly, he realized that it wasn't his heart that was clenching and hurried to the sink to throw up.

Paste your document here...


	12. Chapter 12

YEAR TWO

_Albus_

"So far, this year has been a total crap sandwich," said Scorpius as the two boys both made their way to the Quidditch field.

"I know. I wish we knew when Vincent was coming back," Albus admitted.

It had been three weeks since Vincent and his brother were escorted from the school after hearing about their mum's death and none of them had seen or heard from him since. The group seemed quiet and oddly empty without their loud mouth, Puerto Rican friend.

Albus found that, as a second year, he was getting much more homework than last year. Not to mention Angela was doubling their Quidditch practices to make sure that they didn't get beaten by Gryffindor again for the Cup, like last year. He was so busy that he felt like he barely had any time to hang out with his friends, let alone relax. He was thinking about all this the next day when he was walking to Potions. The Slytherins had Potions with the Ravenclaws again this year, which meant that Scorpius and Lizzie usually sat together. And with Vincent gone, Albus had been going solo the past few weeks. Not that he minded - it was actually easier having a whole work station to yourself.

Not that his professor cared what Albus thought. He didn't even get to protest before he was assigned to Debbie's work station in the back of the room. Albus could feel Scorpius and Lizzie's wide eyes on him as he moved his cauldron and ingredients to the back of the room and began to set up next to The Evil Witch. The Evil Witch was a nickname that Lizzie and Rose had come up with for Debbie over the summer and the boys had begun to call her that out of habit.

Albus expected her to tease and torture him the entire time but what he got was a stony silence. She carefully followed the instructions on the board without a word and Albus had to admit, he was surprised. Debbie, much like Lizzie, was a total chatterbox and had to be forced to shut up. Finally, about halfway through class, Debbie brushed the blonde hair away from her face and said, "I'm sorry about what happened with your friend. With his mum dying and everything? It's just so awful."

He was at a loss for words. Was The Evil Witch actually being sympathetic towards Vincent? Perhaps her heart wasn't a black hole after all. Finally, Albus said, "Yeah."

"I feel terrible. Because Dennis has never been exactly nice to you guys, you know? And if that happened to me, I wouldn't want to have to worry about coming back to school and facing a bunch of people who just want to tease me."

"I think Vincent will be okay. He's tough," was all Albus could think of to say. It was true, of course, but he was too busy marveling over this new, sweet Debbie. Or perhaps this Debbie wasn't new at all - perhaps she had always been sweet and they had just misjudged her.

"I suppose. I don't really know him that well, so I can't really say. I don't think Dennis will bother you guys anymore, though. Your friend," she nodded in Scorpius's direction. "is pretty well connected. His friend, Goyle, has Dennis pretty intimidated." Suddenly, Debbie looked worried. "Oh, please don't tell him I told you that. He'd kill me!"

"Your secret is safe with me," Albus reassured her and then asked, "Why are you friends with Dennis, anyway? He's a bit of a jerk." He expected her to get angry but she just laughed.

"Well of course you think so. The two of you have never really gotten along, have you? But I swear, Dennis can be really charming once you get to know him. Besides, our parents are friends so we've known each other practically our whole lives. It's kind of hard to let go of a friendship like that, you know?"

Albus, who was suddenly reminded of Rose, said, "Yeah, I know." He remembered last year when Dennis was flirting with Rose, and the entire gang had found out that Debbie actually fancied that gorilla. Albus wondered if she still did, privately thinking that Debbie could do much better than the likes of Dennis.

The bell rang, signaling the the end of class, so each student gave a sample of their potion to the professor and then hurried to clean up their stuff. Albus was packing up his things when Debbie said, "Well, I'll see you around, Albus!" and left the room. He barely had time to register this before Scorpius and Lizzie were at his side, pestering him about what happened.

"What did that hag talk to you about? Oh, she was talking about me, wasn't she? I bet she was. She was probably boasting about how she stole Luke right out from under me!" raged Lizzie.

Scorpius, on the other hand, was much calmer about the situation. "So what did you guys talk about?"

Albus shrugged. "Nothing really. She said she was sorry about Vincent's mum and after that we talked about random stuff." Albus didn't tell them what Debbie had confided in him about Dennis. It was funny. He had just stopped hating her and they had just become - were they friends? - but he didn't want to betray her trust. It seemed important, more important than telling his best friends the whole truth.

"I can't believe her! She's trying to buddy up to you, the same way she buddied up to Luke!" cried Lizzie. She looked seriously pissed...and a little crazy.

"I dunno. Debbie seemed pretty cool, to be honest."

"Oh my God, Al! She's sweet talking you and you're totally falling for it! God, it's sickening!" Lizzie spat and then stomped off.

"Merlin's beard, we had one conversation. There's no reason for her to act all crazy!" said Albus bitterly as he watched Lizzie leave.

"I guess. But she kind of has a point, mate. Debbie seems like bad news," Scorpius pointed out.

Albus opened his mouth to argue but then Rose came hurtling down the hallway towards them. She didn't even have time to catch her breath before blurting out the words: "Vincent's back."


	13. Chapter 13

YEAR TWO

_Lizzie_

Vincent came back on Halloween night. Lizzie had been all excited for the feast but then decided not to go to it because of Vincent's arrival. Instead, the four of them sat on the front steps with Vincent and listened while he told the everything that had happened over the last couple of weeks. He gave a brief overview of the funeral, staying at his grandparent's house, but what he really focused on was the amount of homework that was waiting for him at school.

" - come on, have you seen the amount of work that these teachers are giving me? It's bloody ridiculous! My mother was just killed and you'd think they'd cut me a little slack, but noooo..." ranted Vincent.

The other four exchanged worried glances. Lizzie couldn't help wondering what was wrong with him. Vincent's mother had just died and all he cared about was all the homework he had to finish. If her mother had died, homework would have been the very last thing she would have chosen to worry about.

"Vincent, mate," said Scorpius carefully. "are you okay?"

Vincent looked surprised to be interrupted during his rant. "Me? Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"Well...your mum just died. I mean, who cares about the homework?" The Sex God asked.

"I do!" cried Vincent angrily.

"But don't you care that your mum's dead?"

"Care? Of course I care, you dolt! What kind of heartless human being do you take me for?" Vincent yelled at The Sex God.

Alarmed, The Sex God looked around at the other three for help. Lizzie would have liked to save her future husband but, much like Rose, she didn't want to get involved and risk getting her head bitten off. Scorpius seemed to realize that he was the only one that was going to come to the little Potter's rescue and immediately did so.

"He wasn't saying that, Vince. Albus just thought it was a little strange that you don't seem sad about your mum. Right, Al?" Scorpius asked, and he nodded.

"And we all agree," Rose piped up.

"I'm fine, okay? Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself," Vincent said coolly.

"We never said that you couldn't," said Scorpius.

"I'm dealing with it, so you can all just get off my case about it," commented Vincent and then got up. "I'm going to the feast."

He left.

"I don't think he's dealing with it," Lizzie admitted. She seemed to think it was safe to talk now that Vincent, who seemed to be a ticking time bomb, was gone.

"Of course he's not! Just look at how he's acting!" Rose cried. "This could be very bad for him."

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it if Vincent won't let us help him," Scorpius said firmly. "So we just have to be as nice as possible to him, okay?"

They all nodded in agreement.

**Xxx**

Now that Vincent was gone, it meant that The Sex God wasn't partners with The Evil Witch anymore in Potions, and Lizzie couldn't be more delighted...at first. Then she saw her following The Sex God around - her sex god! - school. They were walking in the hallways together, talking before and after class started, and waving to each other from across the front lawn.

Lizzie was disgusted.

It was so obvious what Debbie was doing. She was cozying up to Her Sex God (yes, the nickname had officially been changed!) and making him feel cool. She was filling his head up with lies and stories and he was totally falling for it! How could he not see how evil she was? For Merlin's sake, he stole her boyfriend last year for fun! When Lizzie brought this up with Her Sex God, he just rolled his eyes.

"You were eleven, Liz. You can hardly call that a serious relationship."

"We went out together for over three months! Besides, that's not the point! She did it just to make me mad because she's evil!"

"I asked Debbie about that. She said that she liked Luke before you two ever started going out, and that's why she never liked you much. She felt like you stole him from her and she just stole him back."

Lizzie's jaw hit the floor. "You don't actually believe that, do you?"

"I do, yeah."

"Al, she hated us because you, Vincent, and Scorpius beat Dennis up in the library, remember? She fancied Dennis last year, not Luke!"

"That's not what Debbie said."

Lizzie could feel tears welling up in her eyes. "You know that's how it happened!"

Her Sex God just shook his head. "Debbie and I are friends, Lizzie, whether that's okay with you or not. I'm sorry." Then Her Sex God turned and walked away. Was he still her sex god? Or was he Debbie's?

Her Sex God even went so far as to try to convince the rest of them that Debbie wasn't as bad as they thought. Rose and Scorpius told Albus they would give her another chance but they only did this to humor him - later on they told Lizzie that they still thought Debbie was bad news and would rather be friends with the giant squid. Vincent didn't seem to care about Debbie either way and always snapped at Her Sex God to shut up whenever he brought it up.

Lizzie was miserable. Her Sex God seemed to be spending more and more time with The Evil Witch and when they did hang out, he was either talking about Debbie or not talking to Lizzie at all. Things had been weird between them ever since their row and she hated it. She didn't want things to be weird between the two of them. She was just trying to watch out for him! Why did he hate her for it!?

Lizzie needed a distraction from him. Badly. And that distraction came the next day when Rose failed to sit next to her in Charms and a handsome Gryffindor boy sat down next to her instead. He introduced himself as Cristos Gomez and Lizzie forgot to tell him her name because she was lost in his eyes. They were the perfect shade of blue and she thought that she could get lost in them forever and never once complain.

"And you are?" he interrupted her thoughts and she jerked out of her trance.

"Lizzie Silver."

"That's a nice name," he said with a smile that made her knees go weak.

"I like yours better," she breathed and he laughed.

"That's nice of you to say."

This boy was in a whole different league than Luke. He had dark hair and a tan and he was a full head taller than her. What a hunk. She took one look at him and forgot all about her problems with Her Sex God.

Lizzie Silver had just selected her crush of the year.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hey, I'm finally putting a new chapter up! Yay! Sorry for the delay, but school just started for me and…YUCK. Anyway, I wanted to make this Author's Note real fast to answer some of the reviews I got on the last chapter:**

**Lizaluvsdoggies – I actually did mean "now that Vincent was gone" as in, now that Vincent left the room, Lizzie felt like she could speak again because she isn't as chit-chatty when she's around Vincent. She feels kind of shy around him because he picks on her a lot (sometimes in a joke-y way and sometimes not). I'm really sorry if I didn't make that clear! :o**

**RichelleStark15 – Here ya go, I made a Rose chapter! XD But I just wanted to let you, and all the other people who have been asking for more Scorpius/Rose action, that their second year isn't going to have a lot of it. But third year and beyond will have LOTS of S/R drama in it, I promise! So just hang in there!**

**-Rachel**

YEAR TWO

_Rose_

Christmas was approaching, and fast. There was so much to do, so much to prepare for (in terms of school) and Rose couldn't wait to go back home over the holidays. Yet, as all this was happening, she couldn't help but worry about Vincent, who hadn't been acting like himself at all ever since he got back. He had been acting angry and impulsive and obnoxious but then again, he had always acted like that, so Rose could see how most people wouldn't notice that something was wrong. But she noticed. And so had Scorpius and Albus. Lizzie noticed, too, but she was too busy obsessing over Cristos Gomez to give it much thought.

" – and oh my Gosh, he has _gorgeous _eyes. He just makes me feel so _special! _I feel like the lights dim everywhere else when we talk, you know? I just wish I knew if he liked me!" Lizzie gushed and then collapsed into a chair in the library, next to her best friend. "I just don't understand why he hasn't asked me out yet!"

Rose sighed and massaged her temples. She didn't want to be rude but she needed to focus on her schoolwork, and Lizzie's boy problems were getting a little ridiculous. "So why don't _you_ ask _him_ out?" she suggested. It seemed like the obvious solution.

Lizzie obviously didn't think so. "I can't! I'm a girl!"

"So?"

"_So,_ he's the boy so he should be the one asking me out! It's the way it's supposed to be."

Rose thought this was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard but did not voice this, as she wanted to avoid a row. "Okay, fine. Wait around forever for Cristos to ask you out, I don't care. Now can we _please_ talk about Vincent now? It's important."

"Okay, fine," Lizzie pouted, realizing that they were done talking about Cristos. "Yeah, he's sad and stuff but what can we do about it? Every time we talk to him he gets all moody and storms away or doesn't say anything at all!"

"We have to try! Scorp and I were thinking – " Rose started, but got interrupted.

"Oh? He's _Scorp_ now?" asked Lizzie with a teasing smile.

"What does that mean? I don't like Scorpius."

"I know you don't…you like Vincent!"

"Why does everybody think that? I do _not_ like Vincent! I just feel bad for him is all! And he's my friend so Scorpius and I wanted to do something to make him feel better! Not that you or Albus care, with you too busy with Cristos and him too busy with Debbie…" Rose trailed off, and immediately knew that she hit a nerve when she saw Lizzie's face when she used the names 'Albus' and 'Debbie' in the same sentence. She felt a bit bad, but at least it stopped Lizzie from talking about her liking Vincent.

Rose gave up mentioning cheering up Vincent around Lizzie, and Albus was just as bad. He was all for it when they were just brainstorming but whenever they set a date, he was always too busy with Debbie.

"Al, if we keep postponing, we're _never_ going to be able to tell him!" Rose cried, referring to their surprise for Vincent.

"Look, I'm really sorry! I already have plans! Just – just reschedule one more time, okay? I _promise_ I'll be there!" he said, but Rose was already shaking her head.

"We don't have time to reschedule. Christmas break is almost here – it _has_ to be tonight. Scorp and I will just do it on our own; you and Lizzie don't have to help."

"Come on, Rosie…I want to help, I do! I just – "

" – already have plans. With Debbie. Yeah, I know."

Rose had been a bit concerned about her cousin hanging out with the likes of Debbie, but had never given it much thought. She figured Al could take care of himself. But now she wasn't so sure. It seemed like her cousin was _never_ available, as he was always with his new best friend, Debbie. He talked about her constantly and always saved her a seat when they had classes with the Ravenclaws. Once, Rose mentioned that it seemed like he fancied her a bit but he just turned a deep shade of scarlet and swore up and down that they were just friends. It all seemed suspicious to her.

Rose realized that it was almost seven o'clock and that she didn't have time to worry about Albus – she had to find Scorpius and Vincent! She hurried off to look for them, and found them coming out of the Great Hall, Scorpius looking well-fed and cheerful, and Vincent grumpy and tired.

"Oh good! I've found you two!" she cried, clapping her hands together.

"What do you want?" Vincent barked. Rose ignored his rudeness because she knew he was hurting.

"We're going for a walk, just the three of us," she said, and when Vincent looked like he was going to deny her offer, she added, "And I won't take no for an answer!"

He seemed to think that agreeing with whatever she had planned was easier than arguing with her, so he agreed quickly and the two boys hurried to their common room to change into their snow things and Rose did the same. Vincent being unwilling to argue with her was what worried her more than anything. He used to _love_ arguing with her, he used to do it for fun! He would pick fights with her when he was bored! And now he was just going to let her boss him around? Something was definitely wrong and she was so glad they had a surprise for him.

The three friends met by the front doors and walked around for a short while in the snow, making small talk and poking the ice on the Black Lake with a stick (except for Scorpius, who wouldn't go anywhere near it). Rose thought it was rather dull but Vincent seemed to be enjoying it so she continued it for longer than she would have if she was by herself.

Eventually, when Vincent was starting to look bored, Rose and Scorpius led him over to Hagrid's garden and they sat down in the midst of all the plants and she announced, "I want you to stay with Al and I over Christmas."

"What?" asked Vincent, looking totally shocked.

"We're spending Christmas at the Burrow, like we do every year, and we want you to come with us! You've seemed really down lately and I know the first Christmas without your mum will probably be hard – " Vincent looked angry at the mention of his mother and Rose quickly hastened to change the subject. " – so we thought that being in a house with a bunch of people will take your mind off it. It will be a lot of fun, I promise! I already wrote to my parents and they said it's okay! You, Al, and I will be able to hang out all vacation! So, what do you say? Wanna?"

Vincent took a minute or two to think about this, and then agreed. "Okay, yeah. It will probably be boring at my grandparent's house, anyway. I'll only have Marcus to talk to and my grandmother's cooking is just awful. I'll just have to write to them and ask, but yeah."

Vincent tried to make it seem like the whole thing was no big deal but on their way back to the castle, Rose could tell he was excited.

"So, where are my other two 'friends'?" Vincent asked, putting quotations around the word friends, and Scorpius explained that they were both with their crushes. This made Vincent howl with laughter. "Lizzie's picked _another_ guy to like? Poor bloke! And Albus likes _Debbie! _Oh, Merlin, that's priceless! I can rip on him about that all vacation!"

Scorpius and Rose shared a secret smile as Vincent made fun of his friends, knowing that they had done something good. Vincent definitely seemed more like himself.


	15. Chapter 15

YEAR TWO

_Scorpius_

Scorpius loved his friends. He really did. But in all honesty, they were starting to annoy him.

Lizzie had always been boy crazy but she had never been this bad before. Every word out of her mouth was about Cristos and he wasn't exaggerating. She never talked about anything else. But even Lizzie going all psycho over her new crush wasn't as bad as his best mate suddenly going gaga for Debbie. Cristos was a nice guy so Scorpius could handle Lizzie's constant chatting about him but he hated Debbie so Albus going on and on about how great she is was starting to get on his nerves.

The only people left to talk to were Rose and Vincent. And while Vincent had just lost his mother and Scorpius was willing to do anything to help him, it seemed that Vincent's trip to the Burrow had done more harm than good. While Albus, Rose, and Vincent all claim that they had a good time, when Vincent returned after Christmas he was angrier, bitter, and snapped at anything anyone said to him. Scorpius asked Rose what happened over Christmas but she said the whole trip was fine and she couldn't imagine why Vincent was being so sour.

And Rose? Scorpius liked Rose. A lot. So while the rest of his friends were being annoying or jerks, he hung out with Rose. But the problem was, his other friends were being annoying or jerky a lot so now he hung out with Rose _too_ much. He liked her a lot but he needed a break from her.

That break came when Scorpius was in the common room taking off all his snow things after walking around the front lawn with Rose. Albus was off with Debbie and Vincent was gone so Scorpius was left alone with his two other bunkmates that he never got the chance to get to know last year. While Scorpius was shaking the snow off his boots, he could hear the two boys talking to each other in friendly voices. He didn't know they were friends. He didn't even know their names.

This thought made Scorpius feel guilty. For a year and a half he, Vincent, and Albus had been so wrapped up in their own lives to even get to know these two boys. So Scorpius got up and introduced himself to them. From the way they looked, they didn't seem very popular and they seemed a bit surprised when he approached them. But they didn't look _that_ surprised. Probably because Scorpius wasn't all that popular himself.

Scorpius found out that the boy with large, square glasses' name was Stan and the boy with the strange sense of fashion and the dyed black hair's name was Kris. Scorp could tell within minutes of meeting him that Kris was gay and he was a little shocked. He wasn't against them or anything, but he had never had a gay friend before. It was a little strange at first.

The two boys seemed a bit dorky but in a good way. Scorpius planned on introducing himself to the boys and then making a quick departure. But when he was about to make that departure he thought, _Where am I going to go?_

Not to Lizzie. He didn't feel like talking about boys, which he had been forced to do much more than any boy should have to. And not to Albus, who would most likely be with Debbie. Gross. He didn't even _know_ where Vincent was and Rose would probably be in the library. He was sick of the library. To be honest, he was a bit sick of all of them.

"Do you guys mind if I hang out with you for a while?" he asked. Kris and Stan exchanged a surprised glance but then agreed.

Scorpius liked hanging out with Kris and Stan. They talked and laughed and hung out without any stress or worries. He missed doing things like that. He and his friends used to do stuff like that all the time but not anymore. They were always too busy for him.

While Scorpius was having a good time with his new friends, he couldn't help but keep an eye out for an old one. When Stan noticed this, he had to explain how Vincent had just lost his mother and he really needed his friends at the moment. And Scorpius would be more than willing to give him all the support he needed if Vincent didn't keep pushing him, and everyone else, away. He was careful to add that they weren't to repeat this to anyone because Vincent was sensitive about the subject and would kill Scorpius if he knew he told anyone.

"That's too bad about you friend," Kris said somberly. "I always thought he was a bit of a jerk, though."

Scorpius cracked a smile. "Vincent _is_ a bit of a jerk, but you've gotta love him. Ya know?"

Kris and Stan both smiled back. "Yeah. We know."

They just seemed so understanding. And he _knew_ they wouldn't repeat any of this to anyone. So before he knew it, Scorpius was telling them everything. About Lizzie and Albus's separate obsessions, about how there was something seriously wrong with Vincent but no one else seemed to care, and about one thing that he had never told anyone, not even Al or Vincent (although they had their suspicions): his crush on Rose.

"Rose is pretty," said Kris, nodding in approval.

"But she's not really your type, is she, Kris? Cause, you know, she's a girl," Stan teased and Kris just stuck his tongue out at him and rolled his eyes.

Kris ended up asking him what he was going to do about his feelings. Scorpius just shrugged and said, "I dunno. I'll probably wait a few years before I make my move. You know, until we're older. I think she likes Vincent, though," he admitted.

"If she has any sense at all, she'll pick you over him. What do you think, Kris? Do you think Scorpius has a better chance than Vincent?"

Kris smiled slyly. "Well, he's definitely cuter. But Vincent has that whole bad boy thing going for him."

"Vincent isn't a bad boy. He's just loud and rude," Scorpius said bitterly. He was usually bitter about Vincent when it came to Rose.

"Agreed. If Rose is as smart as everyone says, she won't even look at Vincent when you're around," Kris said with a wink. Scorpius's stomach squirmed; he had never had a gay person wink at him before. Or anyone, for that matter.

The three boys hung out for the rest of the afternoon and then ate dinner together in the Great Hall. As Scorpius was lying awake that night, he found that he didn't miss his friends all that much during the day, except when he was talking about them. And all day, he didn't have to worry about _anything._ He like that.

**A/N: Okay, yes, this was a filler chapter but it introduced some new characters and there was a mention of some Scorpius/Rose so hopefully it wasn't too much of a waste of time. I really hope you enjoyed it!(: -Rachel**

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	16. Chapter 16

YEAR TWO

_Rose_

Rose Weasley had nothing to do. It was bizarre. She had never been bored before (she was always too busy to be bored) but now she was. She always had places to go, friends to spend time with him, homework to finish, books to read. She was always go, go, go all the time and now she was frozen.

Valentine's Day came and went that year without a single poem from a secret admirer (she had to admit, she was pretty disappointed) and she thought about a trip to Hagrid's but it was still February with the February cold and February snow. She hated snow. All of her friends were either busy or avoiding her, she had all of her homework done, and – for once in her life – she had no desire to read anything at the library. She decided to seek out Albus to see if he could hang out, even though she knew what the answer would be.

"Sorry, Rosie, but I already have plans with – "

" – Debbie," she finished. "Yeah, I figured. See you then."

"See you, Rose," Albus said and then strolled off to find Debbie.

Rose may have made it seem like it was no big deal but it was a very huge deal. Why was Albus spending all day, every day with Debbie? Did she have something that his other friends did not? Sure, she was pretty and popular but Albus didn't care about those things. Or did he? Rose wasn't so sure anymore.

So instead of going back to the library to spend a lonely night alone with her books, Rose decided to follow her cousin. She tried to fool herself into thinking that it was because she didn't have anything else to do, which was true, but she knew that the real reason she was following Albus was because she was insanely curious on what he did with Debbie every day that was so great.

And she didn't even feel bad about invading his privacy.

Okay, maybe a little.

The redhead bobbed along through the hallway after her raven haired cousin. He seemed to be walking rather fast so she had to stop bobbing and quickly walk, as well as push people out of the way, to keep up with him. Rose noticed that Al was never in this much of a rush to come hang out with her.

It seemed like forever until Albus reached his destination but finally he met up with Debbie and a group of the popular kids by the front doors. Rose didn't expect Al to be so eager to hang out with a group of snotty preppy kids but then she saw the look of delight on his face when Debbie began to talk to him. Then she realized that Albus probably hated everyone there but was willing to put up with them all if that meant hanging out with Debbie.

Rose was struggling with her emotions here. She was happy because she was right about Albus not caring about being in the popular crowd (even though he was already there because of who his father is) but at the same time she was worried because Albus fancied The Evil Witch of Ravenclaw House.

Sure, she had always suspected and she teased him about it but to see it in action… Well, technically, there was no action. They were just talking. But the way Albus was looking at her…

Rose was suddenly glad that she hadn't asked Lizzie to come along because it would have killed her to see Albus looking at Debbie like that.

Then she realized what Debbie had that Al's other friends didn't: his heart.


	17. Chapter 17

YEAR TWO

_Albus_

Albus knew that he was neglecting his friends to hang out with Debbie. He had barely spoken to Vincent in the last couple of days, let alone asked him if he was okay. The only times he ever saw Scorpius were at Quidditch practice and mealtimes. He only spoke to Rose and Lizzie in the hallways now. He knew he needed to spend more time with them but Debbie kept asking and asking him to hang out and he just didn't know how to say no. He didn't want to say no.

Al had stopped denying his crush on Debbie a long time ago. She was so pretty and funny and smart. He spent all of his time with her and when they were apart, he thought about her constantly. He knew that his crush was border lining obsession but he just couldn't help himself. At first he thought it was just a schoolboy crush and nothing would ever come of it but he was starting to think that Debbie liked him back. Maybe he was being stupid. Yeah, he probably was. But sometimes he felt like her gaze lingered on him longer than anyone else. Even Dennis.

He didn't want to sound mean or conceited but he was much better looking than Dennis. Speaking of Gorilla Boy, he had left Albus (as well as Scorpius and Vincent) alone since Al had started hanging out with Debbie. Dennis had this "mean and tough and not afraid of anybody" image going on but Al had a feeling that Debbie held more power over Dennis than he'd like to admit. To be fair, Debbie held more power over _him_ than he'd like to admit. But he fancied Debbie. Dennis didn't fancy Debbie, he fancied Rose. So why was he letting her boss him around? It was odd.

Albus was thinking this all over while he was hanging out with Debbie, Dennis, and a group of the popular kids. Well, he wasn't really hanging out with Dennis and the popular kids. He was hanging out with Debbie and they were just there. He wanted to hang out with Debbie alone sometimes but she always insisted on being surrounded by her popular little posse`. He didn't know why.

"Albus," Debbie said, putting her hand on his arm. "We're all going to hang out at the lake. Come on."

Her touch sent Albus's hormone-ridden body and mind into overdrive. He followed her out of the building like a lost puppy. Al was too busy thinking about her silky blonde hair and her pink lips to notice that Dennis was watching him closely. Albus started walking towards the lake with the others when Dennis stopped him.

"Hold on just a minute, Potter."

Since Dennis had refrained from beating the snot out of him lately, Albus wasn't afraid of him but decided to obey anyway.

"What?"

Dennis waited until everyone was out of earshot before snarling, "Stay away from Debbie, punk."

"What do you mean?" asked Albus.

"You know _exactly_ what I mean, idiot. I know I don't look it but I'm much smarter than I look,  
Dennis said, grabbing a handful of Albus's robes. Albus wondered if Dennis knew that he had just insulted himself but decided not to point this out. "I've seen the way you look at her. I've seen the way you hang around her all the time. You're whipped and Deb isn't even your girlfriend. You're pathetic, you know that?"

The words stung. Not just because it was Dennis that was saying them, but because they were true. But instead of getting sad, Albus got pissed. Who was Dennis to judge him when he was just as bad?

"You're one to talk. Debbie isn't your girlfriend but you do everything she tells you. Like how you _should_ be punching me in the mouth right now but you're not because she's forbidden you. You're just as pathetic as I am."

Al expected Dennis to hit him, despite anything Debbie had told him. And even if Dennis didn't get violent, Al at least expected him to get angry. But he just smirked at him.

The fact that Dennis wasn't punching him at the moment gave him the courage to keep going: "And besides, why do you even care? You don't fancy Debbie, you fancy Rose."

"I can fancy both. I'm a big boy; I need more than one lady to satisfy me." Just the fact that Dennis did a gross smile as he said that made the whole statement even creepier. Al had always hated Dennis but hearing him be disgusting and disrespectful to Debbie and his cousin make him want to physically hurt him.

"You're a pig."

Albus didn't know why Dennis looked so angry. Being called a pig was much more flattering than the animals he had been compared to before.

"Watch it, Potter. Just because Debbie told me to stop beating the shit out of you and your wussy little friends doesn't mean I can't do it when she's not around. What Debbie doesn't know won't hurt her."

"ALBUS! DENNIS! Get your butts over here!" Debbie screamed from across the lawn.

Albus reached his hand up to wave but Dennis knocked it down. "Just remember that Debbie is spoken for. I'll allow you to be her friend – for now – but nothing more. Got it?"

Al couldn't think of anything except that he hated Dennis with every fiber of his being but the bigger boy's threat still loomed in his mind. He choked out, "Got it," and the two trotted towards Debbie.


	18. Chapter 18

YEAR TWO

_Lizzie_

Lizzie was starting to think that maybe Rose was right. She was really smart, but boys were _Lizzie's_ expertise, so could you really blame her for not wanting to listen to the redhead at first? Of course not.

The last few months had been maddening. Her Sex God was being a penishead and had decided to follow Debbie around with his tongue practically hanging out. It was pathetic. Sure, she had been doing the same with Cristos but when she did it, it was okay. It was her _thing._ Lizzie decided to let Her Sex God figure out for himself that Debbie was a terrible person and potential girlfriend, and focused mainly on Cristos. The trouble was, Lizzie was absolutely sure that Cristos liked her as much as she liked him but he _still_ had not asked her out yet!

So she decided to take Rose's advice and ask Cristos out herself. And it was the most terrifying thing she had ever done in her adult life. But he said yes, just like she knew he would. After all, who could resist her? Besides Her Sex God, that is (but he'll come around).

Dating Cristos was definitely the greatest thing that had ever happened to her. She didn't mean to sound clingy but she was having all these warm, fuzzy feelings that were far warmer and fuzzier than the ones she had for Luke. And besides, she was sure that Cristos cared much more than Luke ever did. More than Her Sex God does, for that matter. Cristos always wants to hang out with her - even more than his _friends _– he has an opinion on everything, and he even tells her what decisions she should make and who she should be friends with. He just cares about her _so_ much and she loves that about him.

Another great thing about Cristos was that he was willing to get to know her friends. This weekend, the pair of them were going to hang out with Scorpius and his new friends, Stan and Kris. Lizzie wanted to introduce him to Rose and Vincent and Her Sex God but they're all too busy or uninterested so she settled for just Scorpius. They had to hang out during the weekend because since the end-of-the-year Quidditch game was coming up, practices had been doubled and now even _Scorpius_ was too busy for her during the week! Lizzie thought it was so sad that all of her friends were too busy to hang out with her, and it made her appreciate Cristos even more.

Lizzie was walking around the grounds, holding hands with Cristos, and nodding vigorously while he talked about Quidditch. The only bad part about him was that he liked Quidditch a _lot_ and she didn't even understand how to play (no matter how many times Rose explained it). And the final game for the cup was Gryffindor vs. Slytherin and she didn't know who to cheer for – Scorpius and Her Sex God were playing for Slytherin but her boyfriend was in Gryffindor! Lizzie was sure that no one had problems like she did.

She had been looking forward to the weekend all week and when it finally came, she was beyond excited. It would be just like old times, but with new friends! She missed the adventures she and her friends got into last year, before they all became too busy for her and she needed something like this to cheer her up. Until she met up with Scorpius, Stan, and Kris and they announced that they were going to be taking turns riding on Scorpius's broomstick.

Quidditch was going to ruin her day! Couldn't she _ever_ escape that stupid game!?

And to make things worse, Cristos hardly paid any attention to her all afternoon. All he cared about was Scorpius's stupid _broomstick._ She hated that thing so much. Lizzie began to tear up when she thought about how much she missed her friends. She liked Cristos a lot but suddenly wanted to go find Rose or Her Sex God or even _Vincent!_ She wanted to say simply hello to any of them. It suddenly hit her how lonely she had been all year. Why did her friends have to be so busy? Why didn't they want to spend any time with her?

Lizzie turned and walked away, and began to wander around under the stands. It wasn't like any of them would notice, anyway! But it turned out she was wrong when she heard footsteps behind her. She expected (and hoped) that it was Cristos, but it was Scorpius.

"Hey, Liz, why'd you leave?" he asked, sounding annoyed. Then he saw that she was crying and his tone softened. "What's wrong?"

"I-I miss Rose and Albus and V-Vincent! The five of us never hang out together anymore! I thought we were all best friends…" she trailed off and wiped away her tears.

Scorpius suddenly looked sad, too. "I know. The only time I see Al is at Quidditch practice and Rose at the library and Vincent in the common room. I never even see you anymore." He sounded sad but then he suddenly sounded determined. "Which is why I'm glad we're hanging out now. You and I should both do more stuff together."

"Just the two of us?" she asked. She was both sad and happy about this.

"It doesn't have to be. We could invite Rose – she usually has plenty of free time. And Vincent, too. He's been hanging out by himself all year, ever since his mum died. If Al wants to waste all his time on Debbie, then fine, but the four of us aren't splitting apart. Okay?"

The way Scorpius said it – so sure and determined – made her believe him. Apart from studying, Rose would always be willing to hang out with them and Vincent needed cheering up. Scorpius was right. Just because one of them decided to hang out with new people made them all think that their group was finished. She was also finished with Her Sex Go – Albus. It was obvious he didn't like her and she didn't want to waste time chasing after him when she had Cristos. The only time she would allow herself to crush on him again was if he admitted they were all right about Debbie and offered a full apology. Sadly, she didn't see that happening anytime soon.

She decided that not crushing on him was going to be harder than she thought when she saw him from across the front lawn with Debbie. If only he wasn't so cute.


	19. Chapter 19

YEAR TWO

_Scorpius_

The disappointment was so thick in the Slytherin common room that you could almost feel it in the air. They had been training all year for this game and now here they were, in the middle of May, and the game was lost. Gryffindor had won. Everyone was very upset about it, but no one more than Albus Potter. Scorpius expected as much, since he was the Seeker and he had failed to catch the Snitch before the Gryffindor Seeker, and because his brother would get to gloat for another whole year about their victory.

Scorpius knew he should say something to comfort his friend but just couldn't bring himself to do it. He couldn't help feeling like if Albus wanted his friendship, he would have said so over the past year. He could go cry to Debbie about it. Scorpius knew he was being mean but he didn't care at the moment.

He went up to the dormitory and put away his broomstick. He didn't want to be around the rest of the depressed and angry Slytherins – he just wanted to be alone. Apparently he wasn't the only one because he found Vincent crying on his bed.

"Vincent? Vince, are you okay?" Scorpius asked, sitting down next to his friend on the bed. The Puerto Rican boy didn't reply but continued crying so Scorpius put an arm around his shoulder while he sobbed. If it had been anyone else, they would have pestered Vincent with questions and tried to force him to tell them what was wrong but not Scorpius. He just patiently waited until Vincent was ready to talk. And he couldn't help but feel like Vincent appreciated that.

"My – my mum always wanted me to play Quidditch," Vincent whimpered as he wiped away his tears, "She must be so disappointed in me."

"No," said Scorpius firmly, "She loved you. I know she did."

"We lost," was all that Vincent kept saying and Scorpius was starting to get scared. His friend wasn't making any sense. He was about to go get help when the door opened and Albus walked in the room. He looked like he had been crying as well. But he didn't say a word about himself. He simply sat down on Vincent's other side and put a hand on his other shoulder.

"Yeah, we lost. We blew it," Al said dully.

"You guys sucked," commented Vincent and Scorpius didn't know whether to be mad or amused.

"Like you could do any better," replied Scorpius. He had decided on mad.

"You know what? I bet I could. Isn't that one Beater leaving Hogwarts this year? Next year, I-I could try out," suggested Vincent and then smirked, "I bet I would blow you guys out of the water."

"Don't be so sure. Quidditch isn't as easy as you think," said Scorpius.

"Oh, whatever. Stupid game. I don't have the slightest idea why my mum was so crazy about it."

The two boys chuckled at that and Vincent scolded them for laughing at him. He wiped his eyes and jumped up from the bed, determined to forget about the whole incident. "So what's with you, Al? It's enough for one of us to be all blubbery."

Albus smiled weakly. "It's Debbie."

"Oh God," said Scorpius, rolling his eyes.

"That about sums it up," Al replied honestly. "She caught up with me after the game and kept going on about my 'poor performance' during the game. She said she let my House down and I was embarrassing myself."

"We told you she was bad news," Vincent said matter-of-factly.

"That's not all she said."

"There's _more?_" cried Scorpius.

"Yeah. She said that we couldn't be friends anymore. Said she didn't want the 'association'," Al explained and shook his head in disbelief. "You guys were right about her all along. I'm sorry."

"Damn right we were. You should have listened to us from the beginning," said Vincent.

"Hey, it's not his fault. The heart wants what the heart wants, right?" teased Scorpius and Vincent bust out laughing.

"I forgot about that! I forgot that you had the hots for her! Your little crush didn't exactly work out as planned, did it?"

Albus rolled his eyes. "No, I guess not. So do you guys want to go get the girls and go down to Hagrid's? I'm in the mood to hang out with friends right now."

"Well, fine, Mr. Demanding."

**A/N: Yeah, I know, this was a short chapter but I'm actually very fond of it XD I have one more chapter and then we're on to year three! And don't worry, the drama doesn't stop here… -Rachel**


	20. Chapter 20

YEAR TWO

_Vincent_

It was June and all of his friends were studying and stressing over finals but Vincent couldn't care less. He had scraped by all last year and planned to do the same this year and every year after that. Even though his friends were busy with finals, they still had time to be there for him and listen if he ever needed to talk – which he didn't because he wasn't a ninny – but he was still grateful for the option.

Vincent was glad that Albus had stopped hanging out with Debbie so he could easily seek him out without worrying about having to deal with the annoying, preppy kids. The first place he went to find his two guy friends was the library but the only person he found there was Rose. Vincent couldn't help but notice that she looked prettier than usual but decided not to focus on this.

"Where is everyone else?" he asked.

"Lizzie is with her boyfriend, and Al and Scorp are on the Quidditch field. Slytherin is practicing all day today," she replied.

"Slytherin is practicing _again?_ But I thought the last game of the year was last month!"

"It was. They want to begin practicing for next year early so they have a chance at beating Gryffindor next year."

"Who says Slytherin doesn't have a chance at beating stupid Gryffinwhore?" yelled Vincent angrily.

"Everyone," Rose said with a smirk, "Gryffindor has won the House Cup two years in a row so far."

"Oh shut up," he snapped and stormed out of the library. He could hear Rose laughing at him and then get yelled at by the librarian, which made him feel a little better.

As Vincent stomped to the Quidditch field, he couldn't believe how ignorant the Gryffindors could be. How _dare_ they imply that Slytherin couldn't beat them, when Slytherin could clearly beat them at anything! They just didn't have their confidence, but he would fix that.

When he arrived at the field, Albus and Scorpius flew down to talk to him and ask if he was okay.

"No, I bloody well am not okay. How come you morons haven't been able to beat Gryffindor? We're better than this! I want on the team."

"_What?_" Scorpius cried.

"Oh my God. No way you just said that," said Albus with a triumphant grin.

"Don't be idiots, be grateful. I'm only joining this stupid team to help you guys win. You should be thanking me."

"Oh, so this is for us?" Scorpius teased. "That's so good to know."

"Shut up! You know I hate Quidditch so you should be happy that I'm being so selfless."

"You're so full of it."

"This doesn't have anything to do with the fact that your mum always wanted you to play Quidditch, does it?" Albus asked kindly.

"It might," Vincent replied coolly.

"We'll go ask Angela," Scorpius said and the two boys went to go talk to their captain while Vincent waited patiently. Well, not patiently but he waited.

They returned with good news: one of their Beaters would be graduating next year so if he practiced all summer, he would have a good shot of making tryouts next year. At first Vincent was a little mad that he actually had to try out but then he thanked his two friends for getting him the opportunity. He would have to make them practice with him every day for the next month because he didn't own a broom to practice with at home.

Vincent stayed for the rest of the practice and studied how the Beaters played. He thought about his mother a bit too and this time, it didn't hurt so much. He knew she would be proud of him and that made him feel warm inside. Or maybe it was the sun beating down on him in his long robes that was making him feel warm. He noticed how the Beater's job was to use a club to hit a large ball called a Bludger at players on the opposing team and he couldn't help but think that _this_ was the position for him! Especially if they played Hufflepuff. He would love to send a few Bludgers at Dennis's big, fat head.

Speaking of Dennis, Vincent, Albus and Scorpius were still suffering the injuries that he had given them not even a week after Debbie stopped hanging out with Albus. It turned out Albus's friendship with Debbie had been the only thing that had kept Dennis from pummeling them all year. Vincent was glad that they had gotten _something_ good out of Al's stupid obsession with Debbie, but now that she was giving the gorilla permission to torture them again, he had gone a little overboard. All three boys were in the hospital wing for over a week after he had finished with them.

For the first time, Vincent couldn't wait for the summer. Sure, he would be separated with his friends for two months and he would have no one to talk to besides his brother and his grandparents but at least he wouldn't get any more beatings from Dennis. He could really use a break. They all could.

Vincent's mind wandered away from Dennis, Quidditch and his mother and drifted to Rose, all by herself in the library. She was always shut up in the library and never had any fun. He should go and rescue her and he could feel his pants tighten as he imagined it. Now he could understand why Scorpius fancied her…


	21. Chapter 21

YEAR THREE

_Lizzie_

Lizzie was heartbroken. It had been an awful summer and she couldn't wait to go back to Hogwarts. First of all, her birthday had been just horrid. Cristos broke up with her the day before so it totally ruined her day, her parents were too busy to plan a party and her 11-year-old sister Amanda kept crying over not getting her Hogwarts letter, even though Lizzie had told her again and again that she wouldn't because she was a Muggle.

She and Cristos agreed to be friends but he didn't write her romantic letters anymore and she had gotten used to those letters! You can't just get a girl hooked on love letters and then stop sending them just like that. Rose wrote to her and said that at least she can start liking Albus again, and to not tell Al that she said that.

September 1st just couldn't come fast enough. Sure, Amanda cried and begged Lizzie to take her along and sure, she and Cristos avoided making eye contact but at least she got to see her friends again. And oh my Gosh, they looked so great! Scorpius and Vincent got taller and their voices got way deeper! They both got way cuter, too, but she kept that to herself. Rose's hair got less bushy and she got a _fashion sense!_ You know what else she got? BOOBS! Lizzie had had hers since first year so she knew how exciting it could be. Scorpius and Vincent certainly seemed to think so, too. Don't even get her started on Her Sex God. He was sexier and goddier than she had ever seen him! He was still shorter than both Scorpius and Vincent, but he had gotten taller, too! And _tanner!_ His voice was pitchy and cracking but on him it was _so_ cute!

Lizzie just loved being a teenager. All the boys got cuter! She just loved boys, too. She followed her friends onto the train and dragged her bright pink suitcase after her as they tried to find an empty compartment that was nowhere near Cristos or Debbie.

"It's so nice to see you gits again. I actually missed you assholes," Vincent said.

"Wow, your grandparent's house must have been pretty bad if you missed _us,_" Scorpius teased and Vincent rolled his eyes.

"Oh, I'm sure you enjoyed your summer vacation in your big mansion and a pocketful of Galleons in your pocket every weekend, rich boy," he shot back.

Scorpius shrugged. "My summer was all right. I missed you guys, though."

"Same here."

"Me too."

"I know what you mean."

"Same."

Lizzie smiled to herself when she heard Vincent start to bicker with someone else as they found a compartment and was happy to hear that they all had missed her as much as she missed them. As soon as the boys' conversation switched to Quidditch, Rose put her nose in a book but Lizzie decided to pay attention because they were talking about Vincent too.

"So Vince, you're trying out for the Quidditch team this year, right?" Her Sex God asked.

"Yeah and I'm gonna friggin humiliate myself," he grumbled darkly.

"No, you won't! You practiced over the summer, didn't you?" asked Scorpius.

"I practiced in the backyard with Marcus and my grandpa a few times. I was okay."

Albus and Scorpius exchanged worried glances – Vincent was going to have to do better than okay to impress Angela. This was not missed by Vincent.

"What? What was that?"

"What was what?" Albus asked innocently.

"That _look!_ I saw that! You guys don't think I'll make the team, do you?" No matter how much Vincent claimed he didn't care, he couldn't hide the panic in his voice.

"No, we're sure you'll do fine," Scorpius reassured him.

Lizzie tuned out after that because Cristos just sat in the compartment across from them and she had to make herself look pretty – ahem, prettier – and like she was having a good time. She was forced to laugh at all of the boys' stupid jokes, even the ones that weren't funny. She had to do that the _whole train ride._ When she was sitting at the Ravenclaw table, she realized that she couldn't remember a single word any of her friends had said on the train. She had been so busy trying to look like she was having fun that she forgot to have any actual fun. That meant stupid Cristos won. Stupid Cristos.

* * *

Tryouts for Beater on the Slytherin Quidditch team was the first Friday of the year. Lizzie was surprised that it was so soon – she hadn't even settled into Hogwarts yet! – but then Rose reminded her that some people took Quidditch _very_ seriously. She supposed that made sense.

Rose and Lizzie headed out to the Quidditch field on Friday afternoon and Lizzie was so glad it was warm out so she didn't have to bundle up.

"Vincent's nervous," observed Rose.

"Huh?" Lizzie asked. She had been too busy watching Her Sex God to pay attention to her.

"Vincent's nervous. I can tell," she said.

"Why are you watching Vincent?" asked Lizzie slyly.

"Why aren't _you?_ This is Vincent's big day, you know, not Al's."

"Okay, sure. _That's_ why you were watching Vincent. Sure you weren't fantasizing about wedding plans?"

"Shut up. I don't like Vincent."

"Of course you don't."

Lizzie may not be academically smart like Rose but she was smart when it came to the important stuff like who likes who, and who is the cutest boy. She had a hard time concentrating on Vincent because Her Sex God was flying around in those jeans that made his arse look juicy but apparently he did well. Vincent, not Her Sex God. And apparently he was Slytherin's new Beater! Rose seemed pretty excited (_Of course,_ Lizzie thought) but that wasn't the most exciting part of the day.

Dennis showed up. He had been watching the whole time but no one saw him because he was lurking in the stands like a creeper. When Angela announced that Vincent was the new Beater, he started screaming and whooping and being louder than usual. Then Dennis snuck up behind him and pulled down his trousers...and his boxers.

Lizzie should have been embarrassed for him. Or she should have laughed at him. Instead all she could think was, _Merlin, that thing is big._


	22. Chapter 22

YEAR THREE

_Rose_

Fall was coming. Even though winter followed it and she despised winter, Rose Weasley loved fall. All of the leaves turned pretty colors and it got colder – not so cold that you had to bundle up in winter jackets, but cold enough for hoodies and bonfires.

But if anybody could ruin her good weather mood, it was Debbie. The Evil Hell Bitch (she and Lizzie had decided that if they were going to be teenagers now, Debbie should have a more mature, fitting title) came strutting into the library like she owned the place. Rose was sure that Debbie only came to prey on innocent library goers because she didn't ask the librarian for a book or search the stacks or _anything._

"Merlin, ginger, you're in here _again?_" she sneered.

"Leave me alone," Rose said.

"Really, nerd? That's all you have to say?"

"Yes. Now go away. Not that you'll mind. I know that being around books makes your head hurt."

Debbie's eyes narrowed dangerously. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm in Ravenclaw. Intelligence is one of my strong suits. You, on the other hand, have to spend all your time in here just to compare to me."

"Intelligence? One of your _strong suits?_ The Sorting Hat must have made a mistake."

"I'd say so. How else would Lizzie Silver land in Ravenclaw?"

Rose hated her so much. She could take it when Debbie teased her, but when she made fun of her friends, it made Rose madder than anything. She made a few more snide remarks after that and then left. She hated how Debbie could just show p and kick her out of the library – _her_ domain.

If she had been any of the other kids in her small group of friends, she would have rushed to find someone to complain to. But that just wasn't her. The whole Debbie encounter had made her sad, not angry. She just wanted to be alone.

Rose went to the only place that she was fairly certain no one would bother her: The Room of Requirement. However, she was in for a surprise when she arrived there.

The door materialized behind her but she wasn't focused on that. She was focused on the most beautiful music she had ever heard. It took her quite a while to find the source of the music because the room was filled with various activities currently not in use. Rose wished she could just sit down and enjoy the beautiful piano playing but she was determined on finding the source. And when Rose Weasley was determined, she became obsessed.

She quietly crept around the art supplies, tip-toed across the Quidditch brooms, and peered around the rock climbing wall.

There it was. The large, sleek organ was only yards away from her and perched on the stool, tapping away at the keys, his eyes squeezed shut in concentration, was Vincent.

Rose couldn't believe her eyes. Vincent was loud and obnoxious and angry, and there was _no way_ he could have produced a sound so elegant and moving. Yet, here he was. There was no denying what was right in front of her. She longed to speak to him but didn't want to interrupt. He was on a roll and she didn't want to ruin it.

The song ended and Vincent broke his trance of concentration to shuffle around sheet music. She knew this was her chance but still, she didn't move. It took almost five minutes to work up the courage to come out from hiding, tap Vincent on the shoulder and say, "That was beautiful."

He jumped a mile high and his sheet music went everywhere. "MERLIN'S BEARD, ROSE!" he bellowed and she jumped back with a scream.

"Vincent! Relax, it's just me!" she cried.

He glared at her. "You don't just sneak up on people like that! I damn near peed myself!" The seriousness of the situation vanished at that last sentence and Rose began to giggle. "You think this is funny? Stop laughing!" But she couldn't stop. She kept on laughing and laughing until her stomach hurt and she could hardly breathe.

"Are you done?" Vincent asked impatiently.

"Yes," she said, shaking of fits of giggles.

"Okay. Well, bye."

"What? No! I want to stay and watch you play!"

"No way."

Rose glared at Vincent. Vincent glared back at her. They were at a stalemate, so she tried again: "Come on, I won't bother you and I won't tell anyone you play the piano. Just let me stay."

"No. I want to be alone."

Rose let out a frustrated sigh. He was impossible. Then all of a sudden, something occurred to her.

"Hey, wait a minute. How did you know about the Room of Requirement?" she asked.

"Scorpius told me. What about you? How do you know about it?" Vincent replied, and reached down to scoop his sheet music off the ground.

"My parents."

"Aah."

Vincent turned his back on her as he arranged the sheet music neatly on the organ. He cleared his throat and said, "My mom taught me how to play. I'm nowhere near as good as she was, though."

"Oh, I don't know. You're pretty amazing," Rose said and, sensing his vulnerability, sat down next to him on the bench. This time, he didn't protest her presence. "Do you play a lot?"

"Not as much as I used to. I've been coming here since the beginning of the school year, just to get away. I swear to God, if I hear one more schlong joke, someone is going to get punched," he spat.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, whatever."

Vincent started to play again and neither of them spoke for a long time. He was too in the zone and she was too mesmerized by his playing to say anything. Rose wanted to stay there with Vincent forever, just the two of them. He was like a totally different person when he was playing the piano. He liked this Vincent. So much that she wanted him to take her face in his hands and kiss her. Hell, she more than liked this Vincent. She _fancied_ him.


	23. Chapter 23

YEAR THREE

_Vincent_

"I know what it feels like now." Albus's voice broke through Vincent's thoughts and he jerked his head towards his black-haired friend.

"What?"

"I know what it feels like now, to be ignored by your friends. You know, when I did it to you guys last year."

"What are you talking about? No one is ignoring you."

Albus scoffed. "You haven't had a real conversation with Scorpius and me for weeks. You're not even listening to me now!"

And he wasn't. His thoughts were filled with red hair, the smell of parchment, and giggles. Vincent had been spending a lot of time in the library with Rose lately. They had been telling their friends that it was to get Vincent's grades up, but they actually just wanted to spend time together. Vincent found that his grades _did _improve, though that was just a bonus.

Vincent couldn't understand how he could have ever found Rose annoying. In the short few weeks he had really gotten to know her, he found that he had become infatuated with the redheaded beauty. Vincent had never been shy and had been rehearsing what he would say when he asked her to go to Hogsmeade with him – to go on a real date. He wasn't nervous. He was pretty sure Rose liked him too, but there was just one problem, and it had white-blonde hair and grey eyes.

But surely, Scorpius would be happy for them. Vincent was aware that Scorpius fancied Rose, but as far as he knew, Rose did not return Scorpius's feelings. In his case, it was obvious that he and Rose both liked each other. Scorpius had to see that.

After a few days of mulling this over in his mind, Vincent was sure that Scorpius would react the way Vincent wanted him to. He had been so concentrated on it that it went from the way Scorpius should react to the way he _would _react, no questions asked. That's why Vincent was so off-guard when Scorpius was pissed.

"What do you _mean_ you're going to ask Rose out?" Scorpius raged.

"Dude, relax. I'm going to ask her to Hogsmeade but I wanted to ask you about it first," Vincent replied.

"Oh, how _considerate _of you!" Scorpius jeered and then turned his back on him. Vincent didn't understand. He thought he _was_ being considerate.

"Scorpius…come on, man. I thought you would be happy for us," Vincent said feebly and Scorpius whipped around to face him, looking angrier than before.

"Happy? _Happy?_ You knew I liked Rose, you arse, you _knew_, and you still went after her! _Merlin!_ What happened to morals, huh? What happened to the Bro Code?"

"What's the Bro Code got to do with this?"

"It has _everything_ to do with it! How long have you fancied her, Vince? A week? Maybe two? I've fancied her since first year!"

Vincent was starting to get angry now. "Is that what this is about, Scorpius? Do you think you deserve her more than me because you've fancied her longer? Are you _serious?_"

"I never said I deserved her more than y –"

"Oh, cut the shit, Malfoy," Vincent snapped and then the two boys were glaring at each other. Neither said anything with their mouths, but with their eyes there was a world of hatred.

Scorpius cleared his throat to speak but Vincent beat him to the punch: "Rose doesn't like you, Scorp. I'm sorry that she doesn't return your feelings or whatever, but don't take it out on me. Rose likes me and I like her. Don't let your stupid little crush on her get in the way of the three of us being friends. Okay?" Vincent said that last word in a soothing tone, to make up for all the harsh words that had come before it. He hoped, once again, that Scorpius would succumb to the pressure Vincent was putting on him and agree.

"I _hate_ you. Never speak to me again," Scorpius said, spitting every ounce of hate he had towards the Puerto-Rican boy with the eight words. Scorpius turned on his heel and left, leaving Vincent behind to curse under his breath and hate him.


	24. Chapter 24

YEAR THREE

_Scorpius_

Christmas Break couldn't come fast enough. Scorpius looked forward to the break every year because it consisted of his family, his favorite holiday, and being away from the assholes at school that terrorized him for a while. He looked forward to it even more this year because he couldn't wait to get away from his (ex) best friend who had betrayed him.

Scorpius, Albus and Lizzie sat in a separate compartment than Vincent and Rose, who were now a couple. Every time Scorpius saw the pair of them holding hands or Rose wearing the lame gifts Vincent got for her, it made him cringe. Albus agreed to sit with Scorpius because he was sure that Scorpius needed him more than Vincent did at the moment and Lizzie went wherever Albus went.

Scorpius didn't speak much the train ride home because he knew he would end up ranting about Vincent and Rose, and didn't want his friends to have _that_ conversation again. He let the other two talk amongst themselves, to Lizzie's delight.

The blonde boy brought many of his textbooks home with him, despite not having that much schoolwork. Even though Scorpius was angry at her, he still wanted Rose to notice him. Maybe she would notice him if he studied really hard and proved he was smarter and a better potential boyfriend than Vincent. Maybe…

He read and studied his textbooks the whole way home and didn't look at either Rose or Vincent when he got off the train to meet his parents. He could hear them whispering about him behind his back but ignored them. He had ignored loads of people whispering about him behind his back since he had arrived at Hogwarts but this time, they were his friends, and that made it hurt so much more.

It should have been a nice Christmas. Scorpius got nearly everything he wanted and got to hang out with a few childhood friends, like Max Goyle and Shanna Zabini. He couldn't think about anything besides Vincent and Rose and how they were probably sending each other a billion letters and gifts and dear God, it made him want to _barf._ He hated them for ruining his holiday. He hated himself for _letting_ them ruin his holiday.

Scorpius thought he was acting normal but he must have been brooding more than he thought because his father came up to his room to talk to him on New Year's Eve, claiming he had been acting strange.

"I'm fine," Scorpius lied, bending over his Herbology textbook.

"Your professors really gave you a lot of homework, huh?" Draco asked, trying to make conversation. Scorpius shook his head.

"No, I'm studying on my own."

"Why?"

"Because I want to."

Draco raised his eyebrows. "Do you really expect me to believe that?"

"Yes," Scorpius said and then sighed. "No."

"What's wrong?" Draco asked.

Scorpius wasn't sure how his father would feel about him fancying a Weasley and was hesitant to tell him about his situation. He hadn't even decided but the words were already tumbling out of his mouth, telling his dad all about crushing on Rose but never doing anything about it and Vincent crushing on Rose and doing something about it and how they weren't friends any more and _everything._ Draco _was_ shocked about his son liking Rose, but he was only mad because Scorpius had been crushing on Rose for three years and he was only hearing about it now.

"What should I do?" Scorpius pressed.

Draco thought about this for a while before answering. "Just ignore them until it blows over. Thirteen-year-old relationships don't last," he said and then chuckled. "Believe me, I know. Just act like you couldn't care less about what they're doing."

"But I _do_ care."

"Act like you don't. Don't let Weasel's daughter know she's getting under your skin. Don't give her the satisfaction," Draco said and then squeezed Scorpius's shoulder. "Why don't you come on downstairs? Your mother is hosting a New Year's Eve party. You should come spend time with the family. You can study later."

"Okay," Scorpius said, feeling loads better, and allowed his father to lead him downstairs.


	25. Chapter 25

YEAR THREE

_Albus_

The scratching of quills on parchment and the drone of Professor Binns had been filling Albus's ears for almost an hour. The note-taking was being done by Rose, as no one else was bothering to even pay attention to their professor, let alone take notes on his lessons.

Albus wondered vaguely why Scorpius wasn't here to nerd out with Rose. Well, Scorpius wouldn't be nerding out _with_ Rose (they didn't do anything together anymore) but they would be nerding out separately, in the same room. Albus was tired of Scorpius and Rose doing things separately.

A temporary flash of light blinded Albus for a moment and he used his right hand (usually it was his note-taking hand, but not in this class) to shield the light from his eyes. He glanced over in Rose's direction and saw light was flashing off Rose's silver heart necklace, the very necklace that she had received from Vincent two weeks and the very necklace that Scorpius had been bitching about nonstop for two weeks.

It was official that Rose and Vincent were together now. Rose had written home to tell her mum and dad that she had a boyfriend and, in Al's opinion, it didn't get any more official than that. Seeing Uncle Ron's reaction would almost be worth having to deal with a sour Scorpius and an angry Vincent, who were refusing to speak to each other.

Albus thought that hid life had hit an all-time low when the headmistress entered the classroom, requesting to see him. His mind swam through every horrible thing he had ever done as he followed the headmistress from the classroom. In the few short steps to the hallway, Albus had gone over conspiracy theories in his mind and was thoroughly convinced that his entire family was dead and he was next.

"Is everything all right?" Al asked, trying to sound calm when he was starting to shake.

"I need you to come to the hospital wing with me, Albus. Your friend Scorpius has had a run-in with few of the other boys and it got ugly – for Scorpius, anyway. The other boys are fine, besides a few hours of detention," the headmistress explained and Al could feel himself relaxing. His parents were not dead and he was not next on the murderer's hit list. Thank Merlin.

Albus followed his headmistress through all the corridors and staircases to the hospital wing where his best friend was lying on his cot. It was not just any cot, but Scorpius's cot. Scorpius was the only person that Albus knew who visited the hospital wing so often that he had his own cot. He wasn't sure if that was awesome, sad, or a little bit of both.

"I'll leave you two alone. Scorpius, your parents have been notified of the incident," Headmistress Poufe said. She turned on her heel and left the wing.

"Great," Scorpius mumbled under his breath. Al had a feeling that a letter home to his parents was the last thing Scorpius needed right now. He sat down on the end of the cot and waited for Scorpius to explain. When he didn't, Albus asked,

"Dude, what happened? Was it Dennis?"

"No. Headmistress Poufe would have told you if it was. It was some jerks from Gryffindor. No biggie."

"'No biggie'? You're in the bloody hospital wing! Tell me what happened!" Albus demanded, and Scorpius sighed.

"I was walking home from the library and…I got beat up, okay? They disarmed me and beat the shit out of me. It was a new low point for me in my pathetic life. It was all very humiliating and I would appreciate it if we never talked about it again. Like, ever. Got it?" Scorpius asked. He had said all that very quickly and it took Al a few moments to register what his friend had actually said before nodding.

"Yeah, I got it."

"Good."

Albus entertained Scorpius until classes let out. He would do anything to get out of History of Magic, even hang out with a grumpy and injured Malfoy for an afternoon. He left the hospital wing to fetch Scorpius some food from the Great Hall at dinnertime and when he came back, his friend was snoring. Albus set down the food next to his cot and settled in a chair next to it with his homework. He got out all his materials and had fully intended to do work when a high-pitched squeal startled him into spilling ink all over everything.

"Damn it, Lizzie! Look what you did!" Albus complained, his books, hands, and pants sticky with the black goo. Scorpius awoke with a start and looked around wildly for the person that interrupted his nap.

"– huh? Lizzie? What in Merlin's name are you doing here?" a bleary-eyed Scorpius asked her. He started to sit up but Lizzie pushed him back down.

"I'm visiting you, silly! I only just heard about what happened. I'm _so_ sorry, Scorpius!" she cried and flung her arms around his neck.

"Er, don't be. It wasn't your fault," Scorpius said nervously, and awkwardly patted Lizzie on the back while she squeezed the life out of him.

Albus was starting to feel annoyed and bluntly suggested that their hug had gone on for too long. Lizzie blushed and pulled back. He noticed her brush tears out of her eyes. Lizzie had gotten emotional over Scorpius getting beat up? Albus's thoughts began to wander to how Lizzie would react if _he_ was in the hospital wing with serious injuries.

"I can't believe those jerks from stupid Gryffindor hurt you! How often has this been happening, Scorpius? And don't lie to me!"

"A-a while now," he stammered. Albus couldn't blame him for being nervous – Lizzie was downright intimidating at the moment. Her voice was all shrill and her eyes were wild and her cheeks had blotches of red on them. He had never seen her so worked up over something that didn't involve one of her boyfriends. "It's gotten worse this year."

Albus forgot all about Lizzie and turned to his friend. "Really? Why is that?"

"Beats me." Scorpius shrugged.

"Well, this can't go on," Lizzie said firmly. "You have to stand up for yourself!"

"What, do you think I just curl up on the ground and allow them to hit me? I stand up for myself! Of course I do! The other guys are just older and stronger than me. It's no use, Liz," Scorpius pointed out and started to shove the food Al brought for him in his mouth.

"Then you'll have to walk in the hallways with one of us. It's that simple."

"Merlin, Liz, why are you acting like my Mum?" Scorpius wondered.

"I'm sorry, Scorp. I just…I don't like seeing you get hurt. Especially now that you and Rose and Vincent aren't speaking –" Scorpius shifted, uncomfortably, in his cot. "– and you've been acting so sad all the time, so I feel really bad and I want to make you feel better any way I can and…" Lizzie trailed off. Albus wasn't sure how Scorpius would react to Lizzie babbling about his personal life but he seemed really pleased that she cared.

Al and Lizzie hung out with Scorpius at the hospital wing until curfew. Lizzie kept them both entertained by running her mouth for hours. Normally, he would have been annoyed but that night it felt nice to relax and listen to Lizzie's voice, which was oddly soothing. It was funny. Albus never thought her voice was soothing before.

She mentioned that she had been dating a boy named Connor since October. Albus counted the months on his hand and couldn't believe that Lizzie had kept her mouth shut about a new boyfriend for four months. He supposed that he should have known that something was different about her when she ceased to stalk him every minute of the day. A part of him felt ashamed for paying so little attention to her and another part of him wished she would dump Connor and go back to paying attention to him.


	26. Chapter 26

YEAR THREE

_Vincent_

Ah, Valentine's Day. The day where half of the population is lovey dovey and annoying and the other half is lonely and desperate. February 14th made everyone much more irritating than usual, which was why it was Vincent's least favorite holiday.

But not this year.

This year, Vincent actually had a girlfriend to spoil, a honey to act lovey dovey with, someone to annoy other people with! Because the only thing that was stronger than his hate for annoying people was his love for being the one to annoy other people.

Another one of Vincent's loves was proving other people wrong. Especially if Vincent didn't like those said people, which was usually the case. He had saved up all of his Christmas and birthday money from that year and was able to buy Rose a gold necklace. Not the cheap, metal crap that he had stolen from other girls' pockets to give to her, but real gold. Hell, he had to use the money from _other_ birthdays, too.

He wasn't sure why he had never spent his money or what he was saving it for, but he had always been oddly attached to that pile of Galleons in his dresser. A part of him had imagined that it would sit in his dresser when he was an old man and he wouldn't take it out even then, not even if he was behind on his bills or his kid broke his arm or something. It was hard saying goodbye to that dream, but Rose Weasley was worth it. The look on her face when he presented it to her made him sure of it.

"Oh my – _Vincent!_ How much did that cost?"

"Don't worry about it," he responded, smoothly.

"I'm serious!" she cried. "You must have used all of your money for this! I never wanted you to do this!"

"Well, it's done. Do you need help putting it on?"

"That would be great. Thanks, Vince." His fingers fumbled with the tiny clasp and he swore several times before he finally got the damn thing on.

Rose sheepishly handed him a large box and mumbled something about her gift being hippogriff dung in comparison to his, but he was only half-listening. The actual gift wasn't nearly as great as the thrill and excitement of opening it. Vincent tore off the wrapping paper and ripped open the box. It revealed a brand new pair of sneakers and a cheap watch from Hogsmeade, the kind that only costs a few Sickles.

"Hey, cool, thanks, Rosie! I've been needing new shoes!" he cried.

"Yeah, I know. I saw the state of your old ones and thought you could use a new pair," she replied, obviously relieved that he liked her gift.

"And a watch, nice. I've always been more of a digital clock kind of guy myself, but hey, maybe it'll make me look smarter!"

Rose giggled and then looked around, nervously, before lowering her voice, "I've got something to show you, okay? I can't believe I didn't realize it sooner and you must think I'm _so_ stupid…" she trailed off, but quickly got back on the topic again. "Anyway, it's in my dormitory and I'll be right back. Wait here, okay?"

"Okay, cool," he said and she pecked him on the cheek before dashing off.

Vincent felt a presence in the hallway moments before Scorpius walked right by him without a word or even a glance in his direction. He would have preferred it if Scorpius had scoffed or taken a shot at him or said _something._ The silent treatment his friend was giving him was awful.

"Oi! Malfoy!" he cried out before he could stop himself. Scorpius turned around and Vincent immediately wished he hadn't said anything. But that was who he was – he acted on impulse and didn't give anything a second thought. Rose was the one who thought things through.

"What?" Scorpius asked, his tone of voice extremely hostile. Vincent noticed he had a black eye, but tried his best not to feel sorry for him.

"Why are you being such a prat?"

"You know why," Scorpius responded, coolly.

"Why can't you get over it so we can all become friends again? You're becoming a real pain in the ass," Vincent spat back.

"Why would you want to be my friend again if I'm such a pain in the ass?" Scorpius asked and, seeing that he had succeeded in stumping Vincent, smiled and continued, "Besides, don't flatter yourself. I've got much more important things to worry about than what you and Rose are doing."

Scorpius strolled off without giving Vincent a second glance. It was like Vincent meant nothing to him. And what other things did Scorpius have to worry about that were more important than his friends? Fucking rich people.

Vincent scowled and brooded until Rose arrived back minutes later and avoided talking about what was bothering him. When Rose finally realized that Vincent wasn't going to give it up, she sighed and presented to him what she had gone out of her way to show him.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Don't you recognize it?"

Vincent squinted – his grandmother kept saying he needed glasses – and recognized the object in her hand as a piece of paper with strangely familiar words written on it. "Oh, my poem! That's right! I can't believe I ever forgot about it."

Rose beamed at him. "A-ha! I _knew_ you were the one who wrote the poem! I knew it the whole time."

"Yeah, well, I should've known that nothing would get past you, Rosie," he teased her.

"It really _was_ brave of you, you know. I'm impressed. One question, though: how did you get into the Gryffindor common room?"

"Rosie, Rosie, a great wizard never reveals his secrets."

"Oh, come on, Vincent! You can tell _me, _can't you?"

"I don't know. Can I?"

"You're impossible."


	27. Chapter 27

YEAR THREE

_Lizzie_

Lizzie Silver was having a crisis. She was stuck in a stuffy library with a pile of homework to complete, when she was supposed to meet Connor in the courtyards in an hour! What was even worse was Rose wasn't there to keep her focused so, naturally, Lizzie had been getting distracted all afternoon and had hardly gotten any work done. Lizzie had made a promise to herself when she entered the library that she wouldn't leave again until she caught up on all the schoolwork she had fallen behind on. She still had so much homework to complete and Rose was gone so no one would be there to keep her on track or to even keep her company.

While she was happy that Rose finally had a boyfriend, it had begun to annoy her that Rose was too busy with Vincent to help her study. Lizzie knew that she was one to talk, but at least _she_ was there when her friends needed her, boyfriend or no boyfriend. Connor would have had to wait if a crisis had come up with one of her friends. Yet, Lizzie was having a crisis, and where was Rose? With her boyfriend!

Lizzie didn't even want to think about Rose's awful taste in boys. Vincent? Really? Sure, Vincent was good-looking in a sexy, exotic way, but he could be very mean and nasty sometimes. Lizzie didn't think he and Rose were very good together, and she knew more about relationships than anyone her age. More than Rose, who had been acting like she was the queen of Girlfriend Town lately. Personally, Lizzie thought that Rose should date Scorpius, who was so nice and sensitive. He was so much cuter than Vincent, too. Not as cute as Her Sex God, but still very cute. She believed that Scorpius was Rose's Sex God and couldn't understand why Rose herself couldn't see it!

She sighed and buried her face in her hands. There she went again, wasting valuable study time thinking about Rose's love life. She was terrible at studying alone. Lizzie looked up from her hands and pulled the next assignment in front of her and got started. She refused to think about anything that wasn't school related (not even about Her Sex God!) and it made focusing a lot easier. Lizzie found that the schoolwork wasn't hard, in fact it was downright easy, but there was so much of it. If she could just buckle down and focus, she would be done in no time!

* * *

Lizzie ran through the hallway as fast as she could with what felt like one hundred pounds worth of homework in her schoolbag. She had focused the best she could and still finished her homework ten minutes late. Connor was going to be so mad! She stepped on shoes and elbowed people out of the way to reach the front doors. She threw them open and stepped out into the front yards, the cool March air drifting lazily by. She was so glad that it was March and that the snow was starting to melt. It was just barely warm enough to be outside, which was why she had planned to meet Connor outside today.

Or rather, she would have met up with Connor if he had bothered to show up. Lizzie searched the grounds (she even asked Hagrid if he had seen him!) and couldn't find her cute, red and gold uniform-wearing boyfriend. She waited around for almost twenty minutes before giving up and going back to her common room. She couldn't believe that somebody could be so rude. She had been late, but at least she had shown up!

Lizzie was furious at Connor, so she did the only sensible thing she could think of: she went to find him. She was happy to leave behind the Ravenclaw common room (Debbie was stirring things up, as usual) and go yell at her boyfriend. She was in a fiery mood and desperately wanted to make him feel sorry for putting her in one. Lizzie was not a vile or nasty person, but she felt that she had the right to make Connor grovel just a little. He had stood her up, after all.

She was on her way to the Great Hall to look for Connor when she just happened to run into him in the hallway. This was fortunate because she _really_ didn't feel like walking down all those damn stairs. Her luck must finally be turning around.

"Oh, Connor! I was just coming to look for you!" Lizzie chirped. Even when she was mad, she sounded cute and delightful. What was wrong with her?

"Er – yeah, me too," he said nervously.

"Oh, were you coming to talk to me about how you stood me up this afternoon? Because that's what _I_ was coming to talk to you about," Lizzie said and made sure her voice was hard and mean. She might be cute and delightful, but she wanted him to take her seriously.

"Yeah, I was."

"Good, because it was a pretty crappy thing of you to do and –"

"Lizzie, listen to me for a sec. Can you do that?" he interrupted her. If looks could kill, Connor would definitely be stone cold dead on the ground right now.

"_No,_ Connor! I was speaking! You can talk once I'm through!" Lizzie snapped and opened her mouth to speak again, but Connor said,

"I want to break up."

He probably expected her to be totally shocked or start crying, or be totally shocked and _then_ start crying, but she did neither. To be honest, Lizzie had been expecting it. And, if any more incidents like today's had happened, she probably would have done the breaking up herself. Lizzie bit her lip and nodded.

"Okay."

Connor looked relieved that he didn't have to deal with tears and said, "Okay. I'll see you around, Lizzie."

"Yeah," she agreed and watched him go.

She supposed it was all for the best. Summer was coming and she didn't want two months apart to ruin them, like it had for her and Cristos. She would have more time to focus on school and her friends. Connor was a jerk, anyway.

Lizzie realized that she should have asked Connor _why_, but then decided she didn't care. If he wanted out, then fine. She would let him go. She was Lizzie Silver and she would be _damned_ if she couldn't find someone better. She was actually starting to feel better, but she burst into tears, anyway.

"Lizzie? What's wrong?"

Oh, great, he had come back. Lizzie lifted her head to tell Connor to go away, when she met a pair of concerned grey eyes.

"Oh, hello, Scorpius. Where did you come from?"

"I was on my way to – never mind. Why are you crying?" he asked.

"Never mind that! Why do you have a black eye?" she cried.

Scorpius's hand flew up to his eye and he tenderly touched the swollen part. He smiled grimly. "Oh, that. It's nothing."

"Don't give me that! Was it Dennis?"

"No, why does everybody ask that? It was someone else."

"The same guys who put you in the hospital wing last time?"

"No."

Lizzie felt even more tears well up in her eyes. "How many bullies have you got, Scor?"

Scorpius shrugged and looked at his feet.

"You have to do something about that!" she cried.

"What can I do?" Scorpius asked, shrugging again.

"Stand up to them!"

"They're bigger and older than me."

"Tell a teacher!"

"Most of the teachers in school hate me as much as the students do," he pointed out and both of them knew this was the sad truth. Lizzie began to realize that Scorpius was as powerless to his abusers as he had led her to believe.

"Enough about me," Scorpius said. "Why were you crying?"

"Oh, _that._" Lizzie wiped all the tears and mascara off her face with a single swipe of her hand. "Connor broke up with me. It's no big deal."

"Yeah, it is! That arse! Did he say why?"

"No, and I didn't ask."

It was Scorpius's turn to look at her in disbelief. "Why not?"

"I don't want to know. Like you said, he's an arse. I'm better off without him," she said and noted that Scorpius was grinning, goofily, at her. "What is it?"

"Well, look at that. My Lizzie is growing up!" he teased. Lizzie giggled.

"Shut up!"

Scorpius began to walk and Lizzie hurried to catch up with him. "Where do you think you're going without me? Wait up!"

She clung to him as they walked down the hallway together. She hated to see Scorpius so upset and wished that things would go his way for once. Lizzie wished that Her Sex God would be as nice to her as Scorpius was. One can dream, she supposed.


	28. Chapter 28

YEAR THREE

_Rose_

Rose had been preparing for this day for a while, but that didn't make it any easier. She sighed and tucked a lock of red hair behind her ear and stepped forward to do what needed to be done.

"Vince? Can I talk to you?"

Her boyfriend looked appalled that she had interrupted his conversation with Albus, but must have known from the look on her face that it was important because he let her lead him away from the public.

"What is it?" he asked, a little irritably. "I was _talking_ to someone, you know. You could have waited until I was finished."

"This is important," she argued, folding her arms over her chest. Her argument had challenged him to a battle and he counterattacked with a snappish comment about how she was so rude and self-centered that she felt she could interrupt anyone's conversation anytime she wanted.

"That's not what I'm here to talk about, Vincent," she said sternly.

"I don't need you to _scold_ me. My grandparents do that enough," he shot back.

"I'm not scolding you!" she cried, her voice rising, but forced herself to keep her temper in check. She didn't want to make this any worse than it was destined to be. She repeated calmly, "I'm not scolding you. I'm sorry I interrupted your conversation with Al, but this is really, _really_ important."

"What is it then?"

"Uh…" Rose had practiced this speech over and over again, but all of her memorized words failed her. She licked her lips and decided to make things up as she went along: "Have you ever heard of the Honeymoon Stage, Vincent?"

"The what?"

"The Honeymoon Stage. It's the first stage of a new relationship, where the boy and girl are so into each other that it's like nothing else matters. Everything is happy and perfect for a while, until…until the Honeymoon Stage is over."

Vincent was looking at her curiously now. "What are you saying? That our Honeymoon Stage is over? _That's_ what was so important?"

"No!" she snapped, her temper flaring up once again. "I'm working up to it, if you would just wait and listen!"

"Fine! I'm listening now! Are you happy now –" Vincent's lips puckered to form a "b" but stopped himself just in time. He had refrained from calling her a bitch, but Rose heard it anyway. Her breath caught in her throat and this was suddenly much easier.

"I think our relationship has run its course, Vince," she said coldly and held out her hand. In her closed fist was every necklace and bracelet he had ever given her. At the very center of her palm was the poem, her beautiful poem, crunched and crinkled into a small ball.

Vincent just stared at her fist for a moment. Then he started to laugh. Rose almost used that fist to hit him across the face, but restrained herself, just like Vincent had restrained himself. She cried, "It's not funny!"

"This is a joke, right? Damn, Rosie, you're one hell of an actress!" he said with a grin.

"Why the hell would I joke about something like this?" Rose snapped and his face fell.

"B-because it's April Fool's Day," he said, the smile having left his face. He looked very serious now. "You _are_ joking, right?"

Rose's other hand flew to her mouth in horror. How could she be so stupid? How could she have forgotten that it was the infamous April 1st? Of course Vincent would think it was all a joke, only for her to tell him that she was dead serious and his April Fool's was ruined. She was tempted to play along and break up with Vincent another day, but something held her back. She had come this far, why not finish the deed? It was a bit cruel, but he would heal.

"No," she murmured, both her hands falling to her sides. "I'm not joking, Vince."

He stared at her in disbelief. "You're – you're _serious?_ You want to break up? Why?"

"The Honeymoon Stage has worn off and we're getting annoyed with each other again. We started dating because we saw extraordinary things in one another, but after time, those extraordinary things become…ordinary," she struggled to explain. Vincent was looking at her like she had just killed his puppy. "We're reverting back to our natural states. We're arguing and at each other's throats all the time and that's not healthy for a relationship. We're…too young, anyway."

"We could make it work. We could make an effort, both of us, to change and be better. I'll try, Rose, I promise!" Vincent pleaded and Rose felt sorry for him, but not sorry enough to change her mind. She held out her closed fist again and waited for him to take his things. He shook his head.

"Vince, take them."

"No."

"They're yours. Give them to someone else, sell them, throw them out, I don't care. I don't want them," she said and forced the jewelry and crumpled paper ball into his hands. "I'm sorry, Vincent. I really am. I wish things had worked out differently."

"Me too," he agreed sadly.

Rose was a bit shocked that he was handling the break up so maturely. Vincent was a person to yell and scream and voice opinions, not hang his head and do what he was told. Had she broken Vincent? If this was the case, she was even gladder that she had ended it. She didn't want to make Vincent change into someone she loved when he could find someone that loved him exactly as he was now. She wished that she could say this to him, but feared it would be too cheesy. She bid him farewell and walked in the opposite direction.

Rose blinked tears out of her eyes and walked in the direction of the library, her private sanctuary. She had just ended her first relationship. One day she would look back on this memory and it wouldn't be a big deal, but right now it felt like the end of the world.


	29. Chapter 29

YEAR THREE

_Scorpius_

Scorpius was on top of the world. He was walking back to the castle with Albus by his side, broomsticks in hand, accompanied by a group of cheering Slytherins. He had never felt better than he did at that moment. Slytherin had beat Gryffindor for the House Cup. Finally.

It began to drizzle as they made their way to the castle. Seeing the Gryffindors sadly stomp in the mud with their heads drooped made Scorpius's spirits lift even more, as bad as that sounds. Albus slipped his arm into Scorpius's and they cheered with their fellow Slytherins as they walked up the castle steps, arm-in-arm.

Scorpius was grinning ear-to-ear by the time he reached the common room. A few kids called out mean names to him as he walked by, but he took no notice. He was in too good of a mood to notice. The Slytherins were having a party in the common room and Albus, Scorpius, and the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch team were the center of attention. Usually, this was not a good thing for Scorpius, but in this instance, his peers were congratulating him instead of poking fun at him.

The only one who wasn't happy and cheering was Vincent. He shoved past people on the way to his dormitory and Scorpius couldn't help but feel a bit bad as he watched his ex-friend go. Vincent had refused to acknowledge Scorpius's existence since Rose had broken it off with him over a month ago. He blamed Scorpius for the break-up and, while he was angry with both of them and was glad they were broken up, was sad that his once friend hated him.

Albus saw Scorpius staring after Vincent and dug his elbow into the blonde's side and handed him a plate of snacks. "Don't worry about him, Scor. This is our day."

"It's his day, too," Scorpius pointed out. Vincent was a Beater on the Slytherin Quidditch team and had just as much of a hand in their victory as Al and Scor did. "I'm going to try to convince him to come down, is all. I'll be gone five minutes."

"He won't listen to you."

"I have to try, don't I?"

Ever since Rose broke up with him, Vincent had been sour to everyone, causing Albus to get sick of his behavior and stop talking to him altogether. This was yet another reason that Scorpius felt bad for Vincent. He knew what it was like to feel all alone.

Scorpius followed Vincent to their dormitory and found him lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Vincent glanced at him when he came in, but, upon seeing that it was Scorpius, made an unpleased huffing noise and ignored him.

"You should come down to the party, Vincent," Scorpius said.

"Fuck off."

"Look, I know you hate me, but could you please not? I have a hard enough time with the other kids at school and I don't need you to give me a hard time, too."

"Don't guilt trip me, man," Vincent said, trying to make his voice sound hard, but failing miserably.

"I'm serious," Scorpius pushed. "I don't want to lose another friend."

Vincent sat up in bed and stared at the blonde boy. "_You_ were the one who ignored everyone and got all pissy the second Rose and I got together!"

"And you're the one who ignored everyone and got all pissy the second Rose broke it off with you," Scorpius pointed out.

"Does that – oh, Merlin – does that makes us…_even?_"

"I dunno. I mean, you dated the girl I like, which is uncool, but I was part of the reason that she broke up with you, which is also uncool. We're both _horrible_ people," Scorpius said with a chuckle. "Maybe we should go be horrible people together, at the party."

Vincent flopped back down on the bed with a groan. "I'm not feeling up to it, Scor. I mean, I _know_ we're even, but I still want to hit you."

"I want to hit you, too, but fighting won't solve anything. If it makes you feel better, other kids have been hitting me all year."

Vincent sat up once again. "Why would that make me feel better?"

"I just figured you would be happy to see me in pain, even if you're not the one who caused it."

"Merlin's beard! How crappy of a friend do you think I _am?_" Vincent cried and this made Scorpius smile. "Of course I don't want to see you in pain, even when we're fighting! I love you, dude." He hopped off the bed and strode up to Scorpius. "Now tell me who has been beating you up. I need to let them know not to mess with my friend."


End file.
